Warning: The Pitt season two spoilers ahead!
We learned in early April that Supriya Ganesh — who plays fan favorite Dr. Samira Mohan on The Pitt — was being written off the show. Sources were saying it was purely to do with story lines for season three and that the nature of PTMC being a teaching hospital means there will always be lots of turnaround in nurses and doctors. All that may be true, but unfortunately, The Pitt now has a terrible pattern of cutting a woman-of-color doctor after each season (there was a similarly vague explanation given last year for the exit of Tracy Ifeachor’s senior resident Dr. Heather Collins). One character who the show is bringing back is night shift attending Dr. Jack Abbot, played by the infinitely talented Shawn Hatosy. Hatosy won an Emmy for playing Abbot last year, and even directed an episode this season while reprising his guest starring role. His character has had meaningful moments with Mohan across both seasons, and Hatosy just commented for the first time on Ganesh’s unexpected departure:
“I can’t really comment because I don’t really know exactly what’s going on there, but he’s obviously disappointed,” Hatosy, 50, told Gold Derby in a Friday, April 10, interview, referring to his character. “I’m disappointed just because of this dynamic [and] this relationship that they have … the writers teased these moments throughout season 1 and we explored it.”
…Throughout both season 1 and 2, fans have shipped Abbot and Mohan, especially when he offered to cover funds for a pricy procedure with no questions asked.
“There’s no there there other than this idea, so the idea isn’t finished,” Hatosy told Gold Derby. “I think Supriya’s characterization of Dr. Mohan and what she has brought to it has made the audience love her in a big way, you know, she’s a fan-favorite.”
He continued, “I would say that Dr. Abbot is the head of [Mohan’s] fan club, you know, and early on he’s believed in her and he sees her as the future. He says that she’s the smartest one here.”
According to Hatosy, he’d want to bring Ganesh’s Mohan to the night shift for a potential spinoff.
“I think the power dynamic is obvious, so I don’t see Abbot as someone who would cross that line,” he teased of fan hope for an onscreen romance. “I think that’s what makes the relationship so special because it’s clear that he’s got that attraction, but there’s nowhere to go with it. That creates this excitement, you know?”
Ganesh has not publicly addressed her The Pitt departure, though previously questioned her character’s future.
“It’s up to the writers. Let’s see where they end up taking her,” Ganesh exclusively told Us Weekly in March. “I think we left her in a really interesting spot. I’m really curious where she ends up going.”
Ganesh also canceled her planned appearance at the cast’s PaleyFest panel this weekend.
“Hi everyone — not sure why it’s not removed off the site but I will not be at Paleyfest this Sunday,” she wrote via her Instagram Stories on Thursday, April 9. “I know some of you bought tickets to see me and I hope you know this is not a decision I take lightly. Love you all.”
I think Hatosy does a deft job here of putting his feelings across while basically saying, “Hey, you gotta ask the writers!” Overall, I feel like the writers have done Mohan dirty this year. In season one she was struggling with pace, yes, but it was because she took the time to listen to her patients and cared about them! Not because she was frazzled from her personal life. She could’ve been written off a million different ways, but the way they chose is a discredit to the doctor they — the writers and Ganesh — created in season one.
Co-creators R. Scott Gemmill and Noah Wyle commented on Mohan’s exit for the first time at the show’s PaleyFest panel on Sunday. Basically, it’s the line we expected. Wyle said, “It’s an inevitability that’s going to happen every season with this show,” and “Emergency rooms have a high revolving door.” That’s true, but then we should be seeing A LOT more cast shake-ups than we are. Instead, the show has gone out of its way this season to bring back characters it wants to. Like the way they made night shift charge nurse Lena Handzo (played by Lesley Boone) a death doula for a patient who comes into PTMC during the day. That story line bumped up Lesley Boone’s episode count to seven this season! Same goes for Abbot, who made a dramatic entrance in the middle of the day thanks to his newly-revealed day job working with SWAT. The point is: they could be keeping Mohan around if they wanted to, and for a show that gets a lot of things so right, it’s a pretty bad look for them to keep writing off the women-of-color docs. Still, I could be appeased if we got an Abbot-Mohan spinoff. That would be AMAZING.
Photos credit: Warrick Page/HBO Max via Warner Brothers press