Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for The Pitt season 1 finale.Charge nurse Dana Evans (Katherine LaNasa) is one of the best parts of The Pitt, but the finale indicated that she might be leaving the show. At the end of The Pitt season 1, once the chaos of the PittFest shooting had died down, all the characters in The Pitt got a chance to decompress and let the weight of their shift hit them. Some, like Dr. Mohan (Supriya Ganesh) and Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle), had emotional breakdowns from all the terrible things they saw. Others mostly took the day in stride. Dana, however, seemed to be completely done.
Early on in the finale, Dr. Langdon (Patrick Ball) had a conversation with Dana where she revealed that she was thinking about quitting her job as a charge nurse. Dana had an especially awful shift, after being punched in the face by a patient, and she told Langdon that she just needed to “wrap things up and get out of here.” Many fans of The Pitt – myself included – were worried that Dana was being serious, and that she’s actually leaving the show. Unfortunately, it looks like The Pitt might really be losing one of its best characters.
Dana Taking Down The Photos From Her Desk Suggests She’s Seriously Quitting After The Pitt Season 1
Dana Looked Like She Was Saying Quiet, Private, & Final Goodbyes To PTMC
I’m sure Dana has wanted to quit her job before, but there was one specific detail that seemed to indicate she was serious this time. Just before she left for the day, Dana went to her work station and took down some of her family photos, including ones where she was holding her newborn child. Taking down the pictures shows that Dana was taking everything she didn’t want to leave behind because she didn’t intend on coming back to PTMC. We’ve all had days when we wanted to quit, but unless you’re actually going to do it, you don’t usually clear out your desk.
There were a few other hints that Dana is seriously considering quitting as well. After taking down her photos, Dana looked around the emergency room as if she was taking it all in for one last time. Then, when she saw Robby on her way out, she didn’t respond at all when he said he’d see her on Monday. Dana’s silence felt like she couldn’t bring herself to lie and say that she would see him, and she also couldn’t bring herself to tell the truth and hear from Robby about how she couldn’t quit. It looks like Dana has made up her mind about leaving.
Dana Leaving Would Be A Big Loss For The Pitt Season 2
Dana’s Energy Keeps The Pitt From Being Too Grim & She Ties The Entire ER Together
If Dana really does end up quitting, her absence would be a massive blow to The Pitt season 2. Dana is, simply put, one of the best characters in the show. Her playful jabs and lighthearted banter help brighten up the series and keep it from becoming overly grim and depressing. Likewise, her role as a charge nurse lets her tie all the other characters together and act as a confidant to everyone else at the hospital. For example, we would never have seen Dr. Collins (Tracy Ifeachor) open up to anybody else like she opened up to Dana.
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If The Pitt season 2 doesn’t have Dana, it’ll have a huge hole in the middle of its cast. Someone else will have to act as a mother figure to the rest of the doctors and nurses, and it’ll be hard to replicate Dana’s unique mixture of kindness and tough love. Additionally, since The Pitt season 2 takes place eight months later, whoever replaces Dana won’t have the same history with the other characters. Aside from all that, The Pitt just won’t have the same personality without Dana, and I, for one, wouldn’t like it as much without her.
What The Pitt’s Creator Has Said About Dana’s Exit
R. Scott Gemmill Admitted That Dana Probably Couldn’t Stay Away From The Pitt Forever
The creator of The Pitt, R. Scott Gemmill, also had some thoughts about Dana’s apparent departure from the medical drama. Unfortunately for Dana’s fans, Gemmill’s comments about Dana’s departure were a bit of a mixed bag. He said that Dana probably couldn’t leave PTMC permanently, but he also mentioned that at the end of The Pitt season 1, she was intent on leaving for good.
Yeah, I was even thinking we should have had her flip [Robby] off, but that was the bridge too far. But I think Dana — I think the thing about this show is you should never get too comfortable with any one character because the nature of the business and the world is that life throws things at you unexpectedly and things can change in a heartbeat. So I think when Dana leaves, she’s very intent on leaving for good. That’s why she takes her photos. That’s why she doesn’t admit to Robby whether she’ll be back Monday. And I think she has to take some time and think about things. And I would guarantee if next season took place the next day that she wouldn’t be there. So when we do come back, we’ll have to see. But she’s a trooper and that place is her home and she’s kind of like the den mother. So I think it would be hard for her, difficult for her to stay away as well. But when she does come back, I imagine she would be a little bit different.
There is a bit of hope in Gemmill’s comments. As he said, Dana could very easily come back in The Pitt season 2, as PTMC is her second home, to an extent. However, Gemmill also mentioned that if she does come back, Dana might not be the same person we’ve gotten to know over the course of this shift. She might be a bit less cheerful, a bit more reserved, and a lot more tired. Depending upon how much Dana changes between seasons of The Pitt, the show may yet lose its best character even if she does return.
8/10
- Release Date
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January 9, 2025
- Network
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Max
- Showrunner
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R. Scott Gemmill
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Noah Wyle
Dr. Michael ‘Robby’ Robinavitch
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Tracy Ifeachor
Uncredited
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
