Michael Crichton ‘s widow filed a lawsuit Tuesday alleging that the upcoming Max series “ The Pitt ,” starring Noah Wyle , is an unauthorized reboot of “ER.” The suit accuses producer John Wells of a “personal betrayal,” claiming that he and Wyle turned to “The Pitt” after the Crichton estate blocked their plans to reboot “ER,” and subsequent negotiations collapsed. Both are hospital shows, with “ER” set in Chicago and “The Pitt” set in Pittsburgh.
“‘The Pitt’ is ‘ER,'” the lawsuit states . “It’s not like ‘ER.’ It’s not kind of ‘ER.
’ It’s not sort of ‘ER.’ It is ‘ER’ with the exact same executive producer, writer, star, production companies, studio and network as the planned ‘ER’ reboot.” The pilot episode of “ER” was adapted from a script Crichton wrote in 1974, which was based on his own experiences as a medical student.
He was credited as a creator of the show, which ran for 15 seasons on NBC. Crichton died in 2008. Wells, the longtime “ER” showrunner, began developing a reboot for Max in 2020, according to the complaint.
R. Scott Gemmill, who executive produced many of the later seasons of “ER,” was brought on board as the showrunner of the new series. Crichton’s widow, Sherri, alleges that in November 2022, Wells gave her a “courtesy call” to let her know that Warner Bros.
would soon be announcing the reboot. According to the suit, Warner Bros. offered to honor Crichton’s contributi.