Warning: The post contains spoilers for The Pitt, season 2, episode 6.
NEED TO KNOW
The Pitt features a touching scene between senior resident Dr. Frank Langdon and charge nurse Dana Evans in season 2, episode 6
Patrick Ball and Katherine LaNasa speak with PEOPLE in an exclusive interview about the role Noah Wyle had in the creation of the scene
“We thought it was gonna be one thing, and then Noah changed his mind and he wanted it to be that,” LaNasa says
The Pitt finally addressed the elephant in the room.
The Feb. 12 episode of the hit medical show features a touching scene between senior resident Dr. Frank Langdon and charge nurse Dana Evans, respectively played by Patrick Ball and Katherine LaNasa, in the staff kitchen at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center.
The two actors speak with PEOPLE in an exclusive interview about the role Noah Wyle, who acts, directs, writes and produces the show, had in the creation of the scene.
Patrick Ball and Katherine LaNasa in ‘The Pitt’ season 2.
Warrick Page/HBO Max
In season 2, episode 6, directed by Wyle, Langdon apologizes to Dana after he was caught stealing from the hospital in the first season. The senior resident shares that he “didn’t really hear from anyone” during his stint in rehab, and Dana apologizes.
The two catch up, and Langdon eventually tells Dana, “I’ve been working the 12 steps, trying to make amends. I was really selfish. I lied to myself. I lied to you. I’m really sorry.”
Dana is quick to chime in and she responds, “You can check me off your list, kid. We’re good.” The charge nurse pats Langdon on the back as she ushers him out of the kitchen, saying, “Let’s get you back on your horse.”
Katherine LaNasa in ‘The Pitt’ season 2
Warrick Page/HBO Max
“We love our kitchen scenes,” LaNasa, 59, tells PEOPLE in a joint interview with Ball. “I also just really love working with Patrick. My first audition scenes were with Patrick’s character. So I, at my core, identified Dana a lot in relation to Langdon.”
She reveals that the scene morphed as they explored it with Wyle.
“There was a lot of talk,” LaNasa explains. “We had talks with Noah, who directed it, about how it was gonna be. We thought it was gonna be one thing, and then Noah changed his mind and he wanted it to be that. It was very processy. Sometimes you just go in and do a scene, and sometimes there’s a lot of process around stuff.”
The kitchen scene, she says, “was a lot of process for both of us with Noah before we got to it.”
Ball, 36, adds that the scene “went in a way that I didn’t plan.”
“I thought we were gonna come in and have a real sit-down, heart-to-heart about how things had been going. And through the rehearsal and putting the scene together, it became this other thing, where Dana’s like, ‘I don’t have time for this. I’m not here to be your emotional support animal. What you need to do is keep your head down and be a worker among workers.’ I think that feels very true to life and like a very cool way of telling this story that I couldn’t have predicted,” the actor says.
Patrick Ball in ‘The Pitt’ season 2.
Warrick Page/HBO Max
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LaNasa notes that the unpredictable nature of the scene was a positive part of the process. “It’s always fun when we get to explore the scene, and let it grow and change while we’re doing it. Especially when it’s unexpected for me,” she says.
New episodes of The Pitt season 2 air Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO Max.
Read the original article on People