Australian actor Shabana Azeez in The Pitt.Credit: Max
It’s no secret The Pitt is one of the most exciting new shows of 2025. The bracing real-time medical drama, which followed hospital staff over the course of one relentless day in a Pittsburgh emergency room, won praise from critics, viewers and healthcare workers for its empathy and realism. But you might not have realised one of those endearing on-screen doctors is actually Australian.
Deputy TV editor Meg Watson spoke to Shabana Azeez, who plays the show’s youngest intern Dr Victoria Javadi, about landing her role in the hit show, working with Noah Wyle and other key creatives from ER, and what we can expect from season two.
MW: What have the past few months been like for you? This is by far the biggest project you’ve been a part of – the show averaged 10 million global viewers an episode, with Max reporting every episode since the premiere in January had more viewers than the last.
SA: It’s been wild! I really miss week-to-week TV like this. Bingeing is really fun, but I love shows that encourage watercooler conversations that the audience slowly trickle into. Especially ones like this with good character arcs. Even though the show was only 15 hours, over the course of one day, it stretched out to months for all of us.
Absolutely. The show had good reviews from the start, but then it built such a connection with people as time went on. Was there a moment you realised, ‘Oh this is actually a hit’?
I knew it was good from the get-go, even though it was not an easy script. It was intense, dense with medical jargon. But I knew it was special. Seeing the table reads made me realise it was going to be incredible. And just knowing the team as well.
For an Australian actor, for this to be your first American gig is the jackpot. I knew I was in safe hands and that I’d have the best experience of my life. A lot of Australians just don’t watch Australian TV, and so you work for a long time without much recognition. Now, suddenly, everyone is watching.
It’s a long way from guest spots on Utopia, ABC’s Fresh Blood Pilots and local indie films. How did you find yourself on the show?
This was my second US audition – and I was so scared! I hadn’t built any relationships in America yet. They saw one audition tape, and just believed in it. It’s kind of crazy.
I didn’t get into drama school when I was younger, and my parents did not want me to be an actor. They thought that was a crazy career path – which is fair. They’re not wrong. But I am so lucky. I worked at a filmmakers’ hub and ended up making a bunch of friends who gave me a shot. That happened, like, 14 times in a row and that’s sort of how I got here.
I just want to act. I want to act so much. And I knew early on I’d have to move. I’m from Adelaide, where there’s not heaps of stuff being made. This opportunity to work in America is a ticket to career sustainability, wherever I end up. My dream is that I get to make a little indie feature in every country once a year until I die!
You’re back in Adelaide, but filming for season two starts next month and the show will come back in January 2026. What does your life look like right now?
I’m really excited to get into season two, but I haven’t read any scripts yet. Everything is under lock and key, and I’ll be the last to know.
But it’s been really great being back in Australia (and it’s so strange to get recognised in Adelaide). I’ve been doing a lot of research, going to med schools and talking to students. Obviously, it’s a very different environment to America, but I’ve learnt so much. Research is such an important part of being an actor – and something that’s quite invisible from the outside.
Beyond the medical jargon and procedures, Azeez (left) says she wanted to learn about the emotional toll of emergency medicine.Credit: Max
In this show, I think all the behind-the-scenes efforts have been made really clear. There’s been so much talk about the medical supervision and the “doctor boot camp” all the actors went through. The Pitt has rightfully been praised as the most realistic medical drama – and it seems to mean a lot to real healthcare workers. Does that response bring an added pressure now?
It’s the most important thing for me. Healthcare workers are incredible, and it’s a very, very difficult industry. The closer I get to it, the more completely in awe I am. I never watched a lot of medical dramas growing up, but being part of “the accurate one” is a privilege. People have opened up to me in so many ways about the emotional impact of being in an emergency room: having to tell parents that their child is dead and then in the next second doing a knee replacement. You can’t bring any emotional baggage with you, so it all gets compartmentalised.
There’s some pressure, but really it’s an honour.
Are there big differences in what Australian healthcare workers say to you versus people in the US?
The themes are universal, but there are nuances that are so cultural. I did a lot of research on gun violence before season one. Obviously, I’m very unfamiliar with that and the toll it would take. My character is 20 years old; she would have been doing school shooter drills in primary school. That kind of thing impacts your reactions to a mass shooting in ways that maybe an Australian wouldn’t have.
It was actually really strange watching a bunch of American actors and crew do the mass shooting stuff. They had stories from their lives to draw on, things they’d all experienced. But I’m quite shocked by gun violence – it’s not familiar to me. The cultural difference for myself and Gerran Howell, who’s Welsh, were notable.
Shabana Azeez and Gerran Howell on The Pitt.Credit: Max
There’s such a great mix of talent on this cast – from up and comers to veterans like Noah Wyle, who is also an executive producer. Wyle was a TV doctor three decades ago, as John Carter on ER, and The Pitt shares so much creative DNA with that show. You said you weren’t big on medical dramas, but had you seen ER before auditioning?
I have now! And The West Wing and Shameless [all from John Wells Productions, founded by the former ER showrunner and Pitt EP]. This team is incredible. They’re all wonderful to work with and are serious about being kind on set. There’s a “no assholes” policy. Everyone does background work, including Noah Wyle. We don’t use stand-ins during scenes.
There was so much empathy and care given to us, particularly from Noah and John. I uprooted my life to the other side of the world, and there was so much warmth and genuine care.
Noah Wyle stars in The Pitt.Credit: Max
Did Noah have any specific advice around that? He was, after all, just 23 when ER premiered.
He was really supportive of everybody, in really clever ways. If you mentioned you liked something or had a shared interest, he would buy you books on it. For me, I really want to make films so he bought me Shot By Shot and In The Blink of an Eye. The books were waiting for me in my dressing room.
He also encouraged me to come and shadow him on my days off. I’d just moved to this country, I didn’t have any friends, and I was only working two days a fortnight. Everybody really encouraged me to come in and take up space, shadow directors, go to production meetings and see how TV gets made. Noah was really part of setting that tone.
You mentioned you haven’t seen any scripts for the next season yet. But we do know Dr Javadi is back. Creator R. Scott Gemmill has said she’ll be doing a sub-internship and the show will pick up around nine months after the events of season one. Do you have any hopes for her in season two?
My thing about her is, I think she’s really brave. And I don’t know that people really give her any credit for that.
“I’d love to see her make friends”: Shabana Azeez on her character Dr Victoria Javadi.Credit: Max
She’s a very book-smart person. But like anyone with massive skills in one area, she has massive deficits in others. Socially, she’s not killing it. She has a fear of blood. And she grew up isolated, so she’s very lonely. I’d love to see her make friends, and develop more empathy for patients in different situations. Also, I just kind of want her to get a date!
This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
The Pitt is streaming on Max.
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