The Pitt’s Noah Wyle Breaks His Silence on Tracy Ifeachor’s Surprising Exit

Noah Wyle broke his silence on his The Pitt costar — and onscreen love interest — Tracy Ifeachor’s surprising exit ahead of season 2.

“Truthfully, we loved the actress,” Wyle, 54, told Deadline on Tuesday, July 15, referring to his former costar. “We enjoyed having her with us very much. She’s gotten really big and we will miss her.”

Ifeachor, 40, who played Dr. Heather Collins, hinted at her departure earlier this month.

“What a blessing to be a part of this first and foundational season of #ThePitt on @hbomax,” she wrote via Instagram on Wednesday, July 9. “It was an absolute privilege to play Dr. Heather Collins in such a groundbreaking season and piece. Thank you to everyone who has watched & supported Season 1 & shared their stories with me.”

Us Weekly subsequently confirmed that Ifeachor wouldn’t appear in the second season of the hit HBO Max show. Amid reports that the decision was made by the show’s creative team, a source told Us that it was always the plan for Ifeachor’s character — a fourth-year resident in the first season — to go on and be a doctor in future installments of the show.

Due to the nature of The Pitt, Collins won’t be in season 2, but Ifeachor “didn’t choose to leave the show” and isn’t aware of “any doors being closed” on a possible return.

The medical drama, which premiered in January, has become a critical success after introducing a unique format where each episode follows an hour in a grueling 15-hour shift at the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital. While highlighting how emergency rooms suffer from staff shortages, burnout, institutional underfunding and insufficient resources, The Pitt also offered an authentic look at the everyday lives of hospital staff after the onslaught of the early Covid-19 pandemic.

Before her exit, Ifeachor gushed to Us about her time on the show — especially when it came to bringing Collins and Robby’s (Wyle) romance to life.

“I am always a hopeful romantic. I would have loved to have seen that toward the end of the season,” she recalled before quipping, “I remember saying to Noah one time, I was like, ‘I’ve been trying to flirt with you all season [on screen]. You have not even given me the time of day.’ I was always trying to [as Collins] and I felt like it was definitely in the script. … I would say there’s going to be lots of surprises to come.”

Wyle said she had an incredible time sharing the screen with Wyle.

“Noah was always watching everything. He is very into the camera angles and how it will be shot and how it will be received in the environment. Sometimes he’s written the episode so he’s going to watch the scenes get filmed. Sometimes he might have an idea of how the medical bit is directed because he has so many hats that he’s wearing before he is even in the scene,” Ifeachor explained. “So [our characters’ chemistry] wasn’t something that we ever actually talked about. Maybe that adds to it because maybe it is something they actually haven’t actually talked about.”

Ifeachor specifically praised Wyle — who created The Pitt as a tribute to his mother, a former nurse, and all frontline workers — as a scene partner.

“We just really vibed. We are just both very present and in the scene and very available to each other. Over time — and I am not speaking for anyone else — but hopefully we learned to really trust each other,” she concluded. “You are working together and you don’t know each other. It’s just such an intense show,” she continued. “Then suddenly you’re having to do these scenes where you have history. So it was a real journey.”

The Pitt has been renewed for season 2 and is currently streaming on HBO Max.