New Leadership and ‘Fun Stuff’ for Langdon (Exclusive)

Heading into The Pitt Season 3, Patrick Ball‘s Dr. Frank Langdon is in a decent place — at least, he was when we last saw him. That could, of course, all change.

Ball is nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his work on Season 2, portraying a Langdon who wasn’t nearly as confident as he was when we first met him but, by the end of the shift, had gotten quite the win (a closed reduction that few have done), had the conversations he needed to with Robby (Noah Wyle) and Santos (Isa Briones) — even if they didn’t necessarily go well — and was ready to come back for his next shift, having gotten through his first after rehab.

So, what does Season 3 hold for Langdon? Well, when TV Insider spoke with him to reflect on Langdon’s Season 2 journey (watch here), we tried to get some scoop out of him. Read on.

Langdon was confident in Season 1, not so much in Season 2. How is he doing in Season 3’s shift?

Patrick Ball: I’m really excited. I’m really excited. I can’t say anything, but we are about to begin Episode 5 of 15 in Season 3, and so far it’s going really well. The scripts are really good and we are in a really good flow. I think everybody’s going to be really happy.

Can you say, is he somewhere between Season 1 and Season 2 Langdon, or is it completely different Langdon?

No, he’s right after Season 2, right before Season 4.

Warrick Page/HBO Max

I like that. When you were looking at Season 3, before you knew anything about it, which relationship were you most excited to explore for Langdon?

I think all of these dynamics have become so multidirectional. There’s a tension in each one of these dynamics. I think the dynamic that Langdon and Robby have is obviously incredibly rich and there’s a lot more to unpack there, which we are getting into. And I think the relationship with Dana [Katherine LaNasa], the relationship with Mel [Taylor Dearden], the relationship with Santos, I think this relationship with Whitaker [Gerran Howell]. We also have the relationship with Al-Hashimi [Sepideh Moafi]. What is The Pitt after having, Robby is away and Al-Hashimi has been steering the ship for the last few months? What is that like? What does this place feel like under different leadership? I think that’s a really interesting dynamic. We have some new med students that I think are really great and I think people are going to be really into. I really want more for Langdon and McKay. I love McKay so much and I love Fiona Dourif so much. And I think McKay is somebody that has a lot to offer Langdon. She’s in recovery as well, and she’s a little bit further down that road. And I think there’s a shared experience between Langdon and McKay that I would love to get into.

Yeah, I loved those moments in Season 2 because it’s just little surprising moments — even for Langdon, he seemed taken aback that she was sharing with him in those moments.

Yeah. She’s so good. She’s so good.

You brought up on Al-Hashimi — Season 2 didn’t dive too much into the fallout of her overhearing his and Santos’ conversation. But with this time that has passed, is that something that’s addressed or is that kind of just like, we’re looking at their onscreen dynamic and whether it’s changed it?

I guess we’ll just have to tune in and find out.

What else were you looking forward to when you were looking ahead to Season 3? Were there any types of medical cases that you really wanted to do for Langdon? After that closed reduction… So were you looking to do more big things like that going ahead? But then we also saw him in triage and dealing with the smaller things in Season 2.

Yeah, it’s really interesting. In Season 1, I pretty much lived in the trauma rooms. I was in all the fast-paced, high-octane trauma situations, which was really fun. And I think where Langdon feels at home is moving fast. And then in Season 2, I get benched and I’m out in triage for a long time, and I’m sort of hesitant to get back into the trauma rooms really. And I’m just moving at a different tempo rhythm. But I think in Season 3, I’m now back in the pit, and I’ve been back in the pit, and I’ve sort of found my feet a little bit. And so I’m back in the fun stuff.

Did it feel like he needed that stuff from Season 2 to be ready to get back into that for Season 3?

For sure. For sure. And I think realistically, even if there hadn’t been the rehab aspect of 10 months away, I think if you took any regular person after having been on a 10-month sabbatical and brought them back into a life-and-death scenario one after the other, there would be pause for anybody. And it takes a real fortitude to jump into those sort of situations. I think realistically, yeah, it would take anybody a shift to get their flow back. And I think definitely having had his belief in himself really eroded through the whole rehab process, that is definitely a shift of reflection that needed to happen.

You said you were surprised to learn in Season 2 that Langdon likes historical reenactments. Can you say if we learn anything like that from him in Season 3, like some little fun fact?

We do. We do. We are working on an episode right now where I get a fun new nugget, but you’ll just have to wait and see.

The Pitt, Season 3, 2027, HBO Max