HBO Max‘s The Pitt is the textbook definition of elite. The show’s first season swept last year’s award season, taking home the Emmy, Golden Globe, Actor, and TCA awards for best drama series of the year (among other many other great honors).
As The Pitt Season 3 goes into production this week, all eyes are on where the cast and crew of The Pitt Season 2 might land during this summer’s heated Emmy race. While experts already anticipate last year’s winner Katherine LaNasa will once again earn a Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series nomination for her work playing head charge nurse Dana Evans, several of her exquisitely talented Pitt costars are also in that race. But perhaps no actor on The Pitt delivered such quietly sublime work on Season 2 than Fiona Dourif.
Fiona Dourif plays Dr. Cassie McKay, a middle-aged single mom who came to medicine later in life than most. We know from last season that McKay had a history of substance abuse, which she eventually overcame after the birth of her son. While her ankle monitor might finally be off in The Pitt Season 2, you can still always find her heart firmly affixed to her sleeve. McKay moves through the ED with a wellspring of empathy for her patients and uncanny insight into the turbulent moods of even her boss, Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle).
DECIDER caught up with The Pitt‘s Fiona Dourif last week, just days before she was due back on set for Season 3. We talked about the impact McKay’s character had on other doctors in the ED — including medical students like Victoria Javadi (Shabana Azeez) and James Ogilvie (Lucas Iverson) — and what ever happened with Brian Handcock (Lawrence Robinson), the handsome patient who flirted with her on the Fourth of July…
DECIDER: I think my first question for you is, you know, there’s been two seasons now and the fans are rabid for this show. Do you have a favorite fan reaction to this season?
FIONA DOURIF: Well, I’m really careful to not look too much online because I need to stay in this bubble. And also this character is so close to me, I feel very vulnerable around it. So I don’t look online. But I would say a very cool aspect is the amount of medical professionals that come up to me and talk to me in real life. That’s been very cool. And they’ve said their favorite thing is that they show their spouses what they do for a living and so there’s kind of understanding. I remember somebody saying that in a panel once and I was like, “Meh, maybe.” And then it’s so real, but so many people say it to me. So that’s very cool.
I want to ask about episode 11, specifically the scene where McKay takes Ogilvie into the park to treat Kiki. When I spoke to Lucas, the way he phrases it is that McKay has been “whispering empathy” into Ogilvie here. How did you see that sequence? And why did she tap Ogilvie for that job?
I think she wants to show him how intense emergency medicine can be. And then, “whispering empathy.” I think that there’s a thing about empathy and also most pro-social behavior that isn’t intuitive, but is real, which is that it’s this exercise and habit that you actually have to work towards. And that’s everybody. I think that even that’s true of Mother Teresa. I think that everybody has all of these different sides of them and habits, and you can be intentional and choose to have more social thoughts occur to you, even by what you’re choosing to follow, and actions you’re choosing to follow. So I think that she understands that about her own human nature and probably everybody else. And she is trying to nudge him down the correct lane.
I know I’ve talked to you in the past about McKay’s history with addiction. When she’s treating someone like Kiki does she see a version of herself she could be?
Yes, and also people that she’s known. Yes, I think that that is part of the utility of the character, actually, is that there’s less of a divide. She’s somebody who’s hit rock bottom and understands how bad the world can get and how you are not there by the grace of God. Like people get born into all types of situations that are much harder to break out of. I think she really understands that.
Because McKay is treating Kiki, she misses the passing of Roxie and is really affected by that. Why do you think she was so like she wanted to be there for Roxie in particular?
I think she probably wants to be there for everybody. I think that this is a job and everybody’s trying to do their best. I think there was an aspect of Roxie that felt like it mirrored her own life. You know, somebody who is exactly my age and whose body is breaking down for reasons that are completely unjustified. It has nothing to do with behavior. She has a son my son’s age. So I think it was this real confrontation with my own mortality. And it really had me thinking as Fiona also after it and during it, of just how fragile it all is. And how unfair it can be and how little control we actually have.
Just speaking to that, I think one of everyone’s favorite McKay scenes of the season is when she kind of clocks in with Robby and tells him kind of be careful looking for the limit, because you might find it. I’m just so curious what sets off her alarm bell for that particular shift? Do you think it’s suddenly in that shift, or do you think she’s been noticing something longer term?
I think she’s been noticing it longer term. And I think she wonders if she notices it more than he does. It’s also a type of undercurrent of anger and despair that can lead you into really self-destructive behavior, even when you’re not aware of it. It’s a place that she’s been. It’s a place that I, Fiona, have been, and it’s a place that people can make decisions that they can’t come back from. Which I’ve also seen play out in my actual life with people that I love, and that was a scene that I understood perfectly. Yeah, it was cool. I got to play it. I was like, “I know exactly what this is.”
On a lighter note, it was also really great to see McKay stick it to that one drunk golf player who attacked poor, poor Emma. What did you make of the interaction, trying to tell him like, “Oh, you still are going to jail, buddy.”
Yeah, there’s a consequence. I mean, there’s something that’s really satisfying about being able to speak truth. And yeah, there was there’s probably a little bit of righteousness that came into that scene that is both delicious and probably not that great. I think righteousness can have problems. But yeah, it was fun to play. You know, those moments when you like, actually play them out in your real life. You know, they feel so satisfying and, yeah, that was fun. I forgot about that scene, actually.
Well, I know that Shabana has recently said that in the third season, she’s going to be on her psychology or rotation and not in the emergency room, which means one of our favorite duos — the whole McKay and Javadi team up — might be a little fractured. Are you going to miss having your little sidekick in there?
I do. Also, my little sidekick is so naturally funny. I mean, I think that comes across in the performance, but working with her is also just like, sometimes it feels like I’m. hanging out with a comedian. It’s great. Yeah. I’ll absolutely miss Shabana. I think Shabana is amazingly talented and fun to be around.
Yeah, hopefully you’ll still have interactions on the floor, but, you know.
Oh, I think so. Let me tell you, it is a long shift and it’s pretty expansive, but you run into most people.
I also really love the scenes between McKay and Santos this season, with the jaundiced patient. How much fun was it to work with those two characters together? And would you like to see those two team up?
I would like to see it. Yeah. I also feel like we have some kind of through line that’s similar, like there’s an amount of the way in which we relate feels like we’re of the same kind of prototype. But I think Santos is much younger than me. So there’s aspects of her that I completely understand. I’m not scared of her. I think she’s pretty cool and has a lot to learn.
This season, McKay had a chance to maybe meet up with a patient at a gallery after her shift, but chose the classic bed, bath, book instead. Would you like to see her potentially get a love interest in the third season?
I don’t know if she didn’t go on that date.
Oh?
Sorry. I know that you made that decision, but I don’t know if I did.
So there’s room to explore even that connection.
Yeah. I don’t know if she didn’t make it to that art gallery.
Yeah, we will have to find out in the next season. Speaking of which, I think last year when we talked after season one, I was asking you about your bangs because they’re so iconic and so great, and you wanted them to be shorter for season two. Do we have a bead on where the bangs will be in the third season?
I think they’re pretty close to what you’re seeing right now. So I went and I did a movie in the hiatus where they changed my hair completely. And so now we’re on this long journey to get it back to McKay. But I think the bangs are back. “Dr. Bangs” lives on, and they’re also great if you’re in your 40s. You know what I mean? Yeah, we’re in the process of solidifying the looks for everybody. So, I think I’m like 75% of the way there. I go into Warner Bros actually tomorrow to finish it. So, yes, the bangs are back.
Is there anything you can tease with the next season, like in terms of tone or anything?
I know my basic theme and it is relevant to today and very personal to Fiona. So I’m excited to play it. It’s so vague. It’s so unbelievably vague. But I do know it, and I’m excited to play it, and we’ve hinted at it.
The Pitt Season 2 is now streaming on HBO Max.
This interview has been edited and formatted for clarity.
