Michael Crichton Estate Sues WBTV Over Alleged 'ER' Rip-Off 'The Pitt'

The summer of author Michael Crichton has filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. Television, claiming that the upcoming medical drama The Pitt is a rip-off of the Crichton-created hit series ER.

The lawsuit, spearheaded by Crichton's widow Sherri, alleges that when talks between the late author's estate and WBTV about rebooting ER hit a standstill, the studio instead rebranded the planned series as The Pitt and merely moved the hospital drama from ER's Chicago to the titular Pittsburgh.

The similarities continue both in front of and behind the camera, the lawsuit claims, with ER actor Noah Wyle set to star in the Max-bound The Pittand ER alum John Wells and R. Scott Gemmill on board as executive producer and showrunner, respectively. Wyle, Wells and Gemmill were also named in the suit.

“The Pitt is ER,” the lawsuit says (via Entertainment Weekly). “It's not like ERit's not kind of ERit's not like that ER. It is ER complete with the same executive producer, writer, star, production companies, studio, and network as the planned ER reboot.”

The lawsuit — which claims breach of contract, breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and intentional interference with contractual relations — accuses WBTV of “a disturbing pattern of conduct” dating back to Crichton's death in 2008, and the studio's efforts to “ultimately erase Crichton entirely from his creations,” including on the HBO series Westworldbased on the 1973 film written and directed by the author.

Crichton's estate, which must approve of any potential film or TV projects based on the author's work, said that WBTV first began developing the ER rebooted in 2020 without the estate's blessing, and when negotiations failed, the series pivoted to Pittsburgh. The Pitt's 15-episode first season is scheduled to premiere in 2025.

In a June podcast interview, Wyle discussed the project and his initial conversations with Wells, with both admitting that they didn't want to simply reboot ER. “I thought it was very smart not to franchise and dilute what we did… but if you've ever wanted to do something much smaller, and much more contained… I'd be on board for that,” Wyle told the Still Here Hollywood podcast, adding that there were “some issues” with the Crichton estate and that any reboot negotiations “became a non-starter.”

Warner Bros. Television said in a statement to the Associated Press“The lawsuit filed by the Crichton Estate is baseless, as The Pitt is a new and original show. Any suggestion otherwise is false, and Warner Bros. Television intends to vigorously defend against these meritless claims.”