Michael Crichton's estate is suing him over “The Pitt” – allegedly a reboot of “ER”

In the upcoming medical drama “Max” The Pittformer HE Star Noah Wyle plays another doctor who finds his way in the world of a modern hospital where everything is at stake. But for the estate of the late author Michael Crichton, who HE Based on his own experiences as a medical student, the similarity between the two shows is more than just coincidental.

According to a lawsuit filed and reviewed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Weekly entertainmentCrichton’s estate is suing Warner Bros. Television, Wyle and executive producers John Wells and R. Scott Gemmill, claiming The Pitt is in fact a repackaged and uncredited reboot of HE.

“After nearly a year of unsuccessfully negotiating with Crichton’s estate for the right to reboot, HEWarner Bros. simply moved the show from Chicago to Pittsburgh, renamed it The Pittand has continued without any recognition or compensation to Crichton and his heirs,” the lawsuit states.

Crichton's estate alleges breach of contract, breach of implied covenants of good faith, and intentional disruption of contractual relations and requests a jury trial.

Representatives for Warner Bros. TV declined to comment to EW about the lawsuit. Representatives for Wyle and Wells did not respond to requests for comment, and Gemmill could not be immediately reached for comment.

The series was released in 1994 and ran for 15 seasons. HE was a ratings hit that launched the careers of actors such as Wyle, George Clooney and Julianna Margulies.

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The Crichton estate's lawsuit alleges that the best-selling author “insisted on a series of contractual commitments” from Warner Bros. before the series aired. These included a “frozen rights” clause prohibiting WBTV from producing reboots, sequels or spin-offs of the series without the express consent of Crichton or his estate.

The complaint further alleges that after Crichton's death in 2008, WBTV “engaged in a disturbing pattern of conduct” to “degrade—and ultimately erase—Crichton from his work,” including less credit for Max's Westworld Series. Lectures by a HE The reboot began in 2020 “without any notification” to Crichton's widow, Sherri Crichton, or the estate, according to the complaint, and WBTV eventually “deviated” from the terms set out in Crichton's previous contract to continue the series without the estate's blessing.

Warner Bros. Max streaming platform announced a 15-episode order The Pitt in March, starring Wyle.

The lawsuit interprets the similarities between the two shows in clear terms.”The Pitt Is HEit says in the file. “It is not as if HEit is not somehow HEit is not somehow HE. It is HE complete with the same executive producer, writer, star, production companies, studio and network as the planned HE Restart.”

Wyle spoke publicly about the spiritual connection between HE And The Pitthas never referred to the latter as a reboot of the former, secretly or otherwise. In a June episode of Still here, Hollywood On his podcast, he recalled emailing Wells during the pandemic and saying, “I know you don't want to reboot the show. Me neither. I thought it would be very smart not to water down and commercialize what we did… but if you ever wanted to do something much smaller and much more manageable… I would vote for it. I would be in.”

He then described “some of the old HE Authors” and said, “We had some problems with the Crichton estate,” adding that “negotiations were doomed to fail.”

The Pitt The premiere is planned for 2025.