NEED TO KNOW
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Luke Tennie tells PEOPLE which of his castmates he bonded with early on while filming The Pitt season 2
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Tennie appeared in three episodes of the season as night shift resident, Dr. Crus Henderson
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“By the time I walked into the trailer on The Pitt, he goes, ‘Buddy, we have to stop meeting like this,’ ” Tennie says of Patrick Ball
Luke Tennie has a special connection in The Pitt cast.
The actor, 31, tells PEOPLE which of his castmates he bonded with the most while filming the second season of the medical hit. He appeared in three episodes of the season as night shift resident, Dr. Crus Henderson.
Tennie says he had a run-in with Patrick Ball, who plays Dr. Frank Langdon, at a mutual friend’s birthday party between seasons.
“I see homie from The Pitt and I go to say, ‘What’s up? I’m a big fan.’ So I talk to him, I talk to his lady [Elysia Roorbach] a little bit. These people are so nice, and I’m like, ‘Nice to meet y’all. See you around. I can’t wait for season 2,’ ” he recalls.
Patrick Ball and Luke Tennie in ‘The Pitt’ season 2.
Credit: Warrick Page/HBO Max
Later, Tennie and Ball saw each other again at an Emmys event in September as well as another party.
“I didn’t know him. I had just met him. But by the time I walked into the trailer on The Pitt, he goes, ‘Buddy, we have to stop meeting like this.’ He dapped me up and I felt familiar because I had seen this dude so many times,” the actor says.
The Pitt, which premiered its first season in 2025, is created by R. Scott Gemmill and executive produced by John Wells and Noah Wyle. Wyle also stars in the show as senior attending physician Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch, and has written and directed episodes.
Each season follows the staff at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center during a single 15-hour shift. Season 2, which concluded on April 16, took place during a shift on the Fourth of July.
Luke Tennie attends the Apple TV FYC Special Event For ‘Shrinking’ at Paramount Theatre on April 12, 2026 in Los Angeles.
Credit: Savion Washington/Getty
Katherine LaNasa, Fiona Dourif, Taylor Dearden, Isa Briones, Gerran Howell, Sepideh Moafi and Shawn Hatosy also star.
It is unclear whether Tennie will return for the third season, which is expected to premiere next January. However, there may be more focus on the night shift as it was previously revealed that Ayesha Harris, who plays senior night shift resident Dr. Parker Ellis, was promoted to series regular for season 3.
In addition to The Pitt, Tennie stars in Shrinking as military veteran Sean Mitchell and in Abbott Elementary as new teacher Dominic Clark.
While speaking with PEOPLE, he noted how acting is very different between projects like Shrinking and The Pitt.
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“There is an element of realism that is so necessary in The Pitt that I think it kind of reeducates your motor as an actor,” he said. “You need to prepare and let go on Shrinking. On The Pitt, you need to prepare and hold on. There’s a bit of freeness that you need to actually access the comedy. It’s a weird thing where if you’re rigid in any way, the scene’s not gonna work. Whereas on The Pitt, that rigidity, that specificity is where the freedom lies.”
The Pitt, Shrinking and Abbott Elementary are streaming on HBO, Apple and Hulu respectively.
Read the original article on People
