‘The Pitt’s Battle With Michael Crichton Estate Heading To Trial

The Pitt is deep into production for its upcoming third season, but the Noah Wylie starring Emmy winning drama will have to scrub up for court next year too.

Two months after hearing arguments for Pitt producers and the Michael Crichton Estate over whether the HBO Max series is derivative of ER, a panel of appeal court judges has affirmed a lower court ruling on the two-year old case. All of which means, The Pitt and the now Skydance-owned Warner Bros is heading to a jury trial in L.A. Superior Court.

With discovery still to come in the clash with widow Sherri Crichton, on behalf of John Michael Crichton Trust’s Roadrunner JMTC, a trial could come as early as next summer — unless the parties settle. A settlement doesn’t seem impossible, but very unlikely with all the bitterness and bad blood between the principals.

The widow Crichton dragged the yet-to-debut The Pitt into court in August 2024 in a breach of contract action. Long conflict short, the estate of the ER creator and Jurassic Park author that the Pittsburgh, PA-set medical drama was birthed by John Wells, WB and gang after negotiations to reboot the 15-season NBC medical blockbuster fell apart. At the time, the defendants essentially treated the suit as sour grapes and a money grab by the Estate.

A critical and commercial hit for HBO Max once it launched in early 2025.

Attorneys for the medical drama were blunt in their POV in an appeal filing in October 2025 after LASC Judge Wendy Chang previously denied WB’s anti-SLAPP motion to toss the matter. “There was no evidence that The Pitt was made by copying from or using ER, so there was no evidence that The Pitt was ‘derivative’ of ER — even if the copyright test for a ‘derivative work’ does not apply,” declared an appellants’ opening brief filed on October 28 last year by WBTV, Wyle, EP Well, R. Scott Gemmill and others.

Reps for WBTV and Pitt producers did not respond today to Deadline’s request for comment on the ruling.

Season 3 of The Pitt is set to drop in January 2027.

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