“The Pitt” star Katherine LaNasa says the most challenging word she’s had to say on the medical drama was “campylobacter.”
“It’s bacteria in poop or something. I don’t know,” LaNasa told me at Sunday at the HBO Emmy Nominees celebration in Hollywood. “It’s something horrible. It’s something really gross. Sometimes they have stuff that is so gross.” (According to the Cleveland Clinic, “a Campylobacter infection (campylobacteriosis) is one of the most common causes of diarrhea. It’s a bacterial infection you can get from undercooked poultry, raw milk and untreated water.”)
LaNasa earned an Emmy nomination for her work on series premiere season of “The Pitt” as Dana Evans, the emergency room charge nurse at Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center.
“There was something I did already [for Season 2] and I told the producer that I think I needed some jewelry for it. Like he needed to give me some diamonds,” LaNasa said, laughing. “You’ll see. It’s in episode 2. It’s disgusting.”
LaNasa explained how she gets through such scenes. “I got outside my body when it’s happening,” she said. “I prepare myself to just go outside my body when it happens.”
LaNasa also spoke about being being diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer about a year before she booked “The Pitt.” “When I first walked onto the set I was a little triggered by it because after you have cancer, all you do is go to the hospital,” she said. “I was only about six months out of going to the hospital when I got the job and I was like, ‘Oh, I’m back at the hospital,’ but it went away really quickly. The feeling of being a little averse to the set went away really quickly.”
Production of Season 2 officially in June with filming taking place on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, CA, with exteriors shot on location in Pittsburgh, PA. As previously announced, Season 2 is slated to debut in January 2026.
Season 1, which consisted of 15 episodes, was structured in a way in which each episode took place over one hour of a 15-hour shift at the hospital. Season 2 will pick up 10 months after the events of the first season, on the Fourth of July weekend.
Season 1 earned 13 Emmy nominations, including lead actor in a drama series for Noah Wyle and supporting actress in a drama series for LaNasa.
The Emmys will be handed out on Sept. 14. Final voting runs Aug. 18-27.