The Pitt fans shouldn’t expect a romance between Mel and Langdon — despite that onscreen chemistry.
During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, Taylor Dearden reacted to the surprising response to her scenes with Patrick Ball on the Max series, saying, “I think Mel is asexual. I don’t think that’s part of how Mel would think — especially at work. She’s a hyper professional.”
Dearden, 32, wasn’t expecting for Mel and Langdon’s friendship to be perceived as something more.
“I didn’t know people were thinking that. That’s really funny,” she shared. “The funny thing is Patrick is always like, ‘God, you remind me of my sister.’”
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The Pitt introduced Us to Mel, Langdon and more staff of a hospital’s emergency department when the medical drama premiered in January. While working a grueling 15-hour shift, Mel found a mentor in Langdon, which inspired some viewers to question where their bond could go from here.
Dearden’s portrayal of Mel has also sparked conversation about representation as viewers who identify as autistic have felt seen by the character. (The Pitt hasn’t confirmed yet whether Mel is autistic.)
“I have ADHD and they’re on the same spectrum now, so it was kind of me playing a less masked version of the things I already have to go through and just pumping up the anxiety for Mel,” Dearden explained. “But they’ve never really shown the range of the spectrum [on screen] and what every area could look like or what every part of it could look like.”
The actress continued: “I’m really glad it’s landing well. But I also am really glad I get to do something that’s close to my heart — or more technically to my brain.”
In addition to Dearden and Ball, The Pitt also stars Noah Wyle, Isa Briones, Tracy Ifeachor, Katherine LaNasa, Supriya Ganesh, Fiona Dourif, Gerran Howell and Shabana Azeez. The entire group went through medical bootcamp to prepare to play doctors on screen.
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“It was all about getting through most of the procedures that we would have to do in an emergency room that aren’t easy to learn on the day, which was really fun. It was tough,” Dearden recalled. “We were all scared, but it has carried over and it’s become more and more comfortable for all of us.”
Dearden has even found herself giving medical tips, adding, “For example, my mom was a pedestrian recently and got hit by a car. She had to have surgery and I looked at the sutures and I went, ‘That is a terrible suturing job. This is just awful. I should have done that. They should have called me.’ And I would never, ever think that before.”
While the entire cast picked up certain skills, they couldn’t compare to Wyle, 53, who previously starred as Dr. John Carter on HBO’s ER. “It was definitely us kind of in awe going, ‘Why can’t we make it look that easy?’” Dearden quipped. “But I think that’s just a learning thing because by the end, we were hopefully much better.”
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Max renewed The Pitt for a second season before the first is set to end this spring. As a result, fans have asked whether new episodes would follow the same setup of portraying a single hour of an ER shift.
“As we were shooting, we asked [the executive producers] and they were like, ‘We have no idea what we’re going to do yet.’ They are very good at what they do,” Dearden noted. “We have no information, but it would be interesting — even if it’s just a month later — to see that. Or even the next day. I don’t think it’s going to pick up right there. I doubt it. It’s going to be fun to see if we can play with change a little bit.”
New episodes of The Pitt premiere on Max every Thursday.
