HBO Max’s The Pitt is back for its third season in January, and Friday saw the release of the first trailer from this new season.
Whilst these characters and its actors are familiar faces to many now, one face will be more familiar to the people of Barry than others in Dr Dennis Whitaker, played by local actor Gerran Howell.
Howell grew up in Barry, where he attended Barry Comprehensive School, before training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.
Some readers might recognise him best from his roles as Private Parry in 1917, or as Vlad in the CBBC series Young Dracula. The series followed a family of vampires and their move from Transylvania to a rural Welsh town – a far departure from the chaos of the emergency department at The Pitt.
The gentle, yet naïve, Dr Whitaker captured audiences’ attention as he gradually came out of his shell.
His blossoming friendship with Dr Trinity Santos, played by Isa Briones, takes centre stage in his appearances during this trailer.
But, in true The Pitt fashion, Whitaker is unable to catch a break for very long and finds himself in some tricky situations. We see a clip of him hitting the ground, and his head, hard during another dramatic shift at this fictional emergency department – but at least he’s in the right place to deal with it.
This first look of the new season comes just weeks before one of the biggest nights in the television awards season; the Emmy Awards.
Howell finds himself nominated for the first time at this year’s awards in the ‘Drama supporting actor’ category alongside co-stars Patrick Ball (Dr Frank Langdon) and Shawn Hatosy (Dr Jack Abbot).
In a post on his Instagram story at the time, he wrote: “To be nominated for an Emmy or even considered feels completely surreal for this little Welsh boy!
“I feel unbelievably lucky to be part of a show made by people who give everything to it, every single day.”
The 78th Emmy Awards will be held on September 14 at 5pm at the Peacock Theatre in downtown Los Angeles.
Season three of The Pitt will air on HBO Max in January 2027.
