The estate of ER creator Michael Crichton is suing him over the Noah Wyle drama “The Pitt”

The estate of Michael Crichton, who wrote the screenplay for the later film Pilot episode of HEhas sued Warner Bros. Television over a dispute over an upcoming medical drama that it says is a renamed version of an unauthorized reboot.

After Crichton's estate, led by his widow Sherri, was unable to reach an agreement with the television studio on a remake of the famous medical series, the lawsuit now claims that Warner Bros. developed and produced a series on the same basis without its consent.

The upcoming series titled The Pittwill be a medical drama set in Pittsburgh, unlike HEis set in Chicago and Noah Wyle plays a leading role.

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Wyle is best known for his role as John Carter in HE in over 250 episodes.

The Pitt will also have several HE alumni behind the scenes, including John Wells as executive producer and R. Scott Gemmill as showrunner.

Wyle, Wells and Gemmill are each named as defendants in the lawsuit.

“The Crichton estate’s lawsuit is without merit, The Pitt is a new and original show. Any claim to the contrary is false, and Warner Bros. Television intends to vigorously defend itself against these baseless claims,” ​​the studio said in a statement.

Due to Crichton’s success with projects such as Jurassic Park And Westworld before HE was developed, he secured a coveted “Frozen Rights” clause in his contract for the series.

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The provision prohibits Warner Bros. from producing sequels, remakes, spinoffs or other productions based on HE without Crichton's consent or the consent of his estate following his death from cancer in 2008.

“If Warner Bros. can do this to Michael Crichton, one of the industry's most successful and prolific creators who has earned the studio billions over the course of their collaboration, no creator is safe,” a spokesperson for Sherri Crichton said in a statement to The Associated Press.

“While litigation is never the preferred course of action, contracts must be enforced and Michael Crichton's legacy must be protected.”

The estate, which filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST), is asking the judge to issue an injunction that would force the studio to stop production on the new series. They are also seeking punitive and compensatory damages.

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Warner Bros. began developing a reboot of HE for the HBO streaming service Max in 2020 without Sherri's knowledge, the lawsuit says.

In 2022, when Sherri Crichton was informed of the developing project, she and the estate began negotiations with the studio, during which she says she was promised that Crichton would be credited as “creator,” backed by a $US5 million ($7.4 million) guarantee to the estate in the event the credit was not forthcoming.

Ultimately, the termination was revoked and negotiations were broken off, which, according to the lawsuit, should have led to the entire development of the series being stopped.

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The development continued and The Pitt was announced in March. A release date has not yet been set.

“The Pitt Is HEIt is not like 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,” lawyers for Crichton's estate wrote in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also alleges that Warner Bros. had previously attempted to “erase” Crichton from derivatives of his work by downgrading his credit in the 2016 series based on his film. Westworldfrom “created by” to “based on,” which she said set in motion “a disturbing pattern.”

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