‘The Pitt' star Noah Wyle hopes for major award shatters amid legal drama

The Pitt and its star Noah Wyle are currently up for best TV drama and best actor at the Golden Globes, set to take place this weekend.

However, legal trouble looms over the winning chances of the popular medical series, despite being one of the favourites to sweep the categories it’s nominated in.

Wyle, who also executive produces the show, has been sued alongside Warner Bros. Television by Sherri Crichton.

Widow to screenwriter Michael Crichton, Sherri has claimed in her lawsuit that The Pitt is a blatant rip-off of the 1990s medical hit ER, created by her late husband while also starring the 54-year-old actor.

The litigation further asserted that the HBO drama’s producers tried to strike a deal with her to reboot ER for nearly a year, before the conversations fell through and the show was launched as a “new” take on its predecessor.

While the case has been ruled to go ahead by a judge, according to Page Six, a source “familiar with the situation” claimed that “this is actually quite a dangerous act by Sherri Crichton”.

“What she’s doing… is an attack on creative freedom and expression,” the insider added.

Furthermore, an appeal made by The Pitt’s team against the Crichton case revealed, “The lawsuit is baseless: The Pitt is no more a ‘derivative work’ of ER than is any other hospital drama.”

“The Pitt involves different characters, a different plot, different themes, a different setting, and a different storytelling device,” it added. “The shows’ only similarities are (1) they are both medical dramas set in emergency departments — like dozens of other shows — and (2) they share a single actor, Defendant Noah Wyle, playing different characters.”

Noah Wyle previously won an Emmy for his performance in The Pitt last September, while the show took home the award for best drama.