The Pitt is deep into production on its upcoming third season, but the Emmy-winning, Noah Wyle-starring drama will have to scrub up for court next year too.
Two months after hearing arguments from Pitt producers and the Michael Crichton Estate over whether the HBO Max series is derivative of ER, a panel of appeals court judges has affirmed a lower court ruling on the 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.
“The order of the trial court denying the anti-SLAPP motion as to WBTV is affirmed,” the court said Wednesday in its 33-page ruling. “As to defendants other than WBTV, the order is reversed and the trial court is instructed to enter an order granting the motion and to dismiss those defendants. The parties will bear their own costs on appeal.”
What is also means is that while WBTV is court-bound, Wyle and Pitt EPs John Wells and R. Scott Gemmill have been dropped from the litigation. Having said that, it would not be surprising to see the producers on a witness list if the case truly makes it to trial.
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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 is unlikely given all the bitterness and bad blood between the principals.
Sherri 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 contends that the Pittsburgh, PA-set medical drama was birthed by Wells, WBTV and gang after negotiations to reboot the original 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.
Fronted by ER vet Wyle as a emergency room physician, the real-time The Pitt proved a critical and commercial hit for HBO Max when 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 October 28 last year by WBTV, Wyle, Wells, Gemmill and others.
On September 8, Pitt producers and WBTV lawyer Ted Boutrous appeared before Judges Curtis Karnow, Rashida Adams and Mark Hanasono. Boutrous pitched that Sherri Crichton actually had no idea whether the HBO Max show violated rights provisions in a 1994 agreement with her deceased husband because she sued before The Pitt came out, and she’d never seen the show. The Gibson Dunn lawyer added: “This is exactly the kind of case that deserves a quick dismissal, because it’s intruding on creative expression and free speech.”
Clearly the appeals court disagreed — at least when it comes to WBTV.
Reps for WBTV and Pitt producers did not respond today to Deadline’s request for comment on the ruling.
Meanwhile, Sherri Crichton did have something to say. “I am deeply gratified by the Appeals Court decision and look forward to discovery and our case which affects writers, creators and their families and estates being presented to a Jury,” she told Deadline today.
Season 3 of The Pitt is set to drop in January 2027.
