Noah Wyle's series The Pitt is hit by legal action from ER creator Michael Crichton's widow as she claims the medical drama is an 'unauthorised' reboot of his iconic show
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He rose to fame as a dishy doctor on long-running 1990s series ER and is now enjoying a career resurgence in another hospital-based series.
But Noah Wyle's Emmy Award-winning US show The Pitt is facing legal action from the wife of ER creator Michael Crichton, who claims it is an unauthorised reboot of his show.
A court in the US has now ruled that Sherri Crichton can proceed with her lawsuit against the HBO drama, with a judge ruling that there are 'clear similarities.'
An appeal to have her lawsuit thrown out has been dismissed, meaning that she can go ahead with her attempt to sue producers.
Mrs Crichton, whose author and filmmaker husband died in 2008, claims The Pitt was made without permission from his estate and without any credit.
She also claims that her husband had a 'frozen rights' agreement written into his contract, which strictly prohibited any spin-offs or reboots of ER being made without his authorisation.
Noah Wyle's Emmy Award-winning US show The Pitt is facing legal action from the wife of ER creator Michael Crichton, who claims it is an unauthorised reboot of his show
A court has ruled that Sherri Crichton, can proceed with her lawsuit against the drama, with a US judge ruling that there are 'clear similarities' (pictured with Michael in 2007)
Judges ruled that there were 'clear and numerous similarities between The Pitt and ER', such as the setting of a US emergency room, the characters of junior doctors and fast-paced medical jargon.
Mrs Crichton and the John Michael Crichton Trust claim the show follows exactly the same formula and they have 'simply moved the show from Chicago to Pittsburgh, rebranded it The Pitt, and ploughed ahead without any attribution or compensation for Crichton and his heirs.'
Warner Bros, which owns HBO Max, had previously described the case as 'baseless' when it was first launched in 2024 and asked for it to be dismissed.
Separate claims against Wyle, 55, who is the star and a producer on the show, were dismissed, as were claims against showrunner R Scott Gemmill and executive producer John Wells.
The court ruled that there was not enough evidence to suggest they had been aware that they were violating the rights.
The fact that Wyle, who played Dr John Carter on ER from 1994-2005, is the face of the show, has certainly made comparisons more widespread.
He has been back in the spotlight thanks to his role on The Pitt, which will return for a third season next year, and was last week voted People Magazine's Sexiest Man of the Year.
In September he won his second Emmy for his role as Dr Michael Robinavitch in the show, which itself was named Outstanding Drama Series.
'I am deeply gratified by the Court of Appeal decision and look forward to discovery and to our case, which affects writers, creators, and their families and estates, being presented to a jury,' said Mrs Crichton.
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