“Who am I listening to at the moment?” ponders Gerran Howell. “Let me look at my Spotify…” The Welsh actor starts scrolling through his phone, name-checking American band Geese, their frontman Cameron Winter and musician Daryl Johns. His eyes light up. “I’ve got a little Whitaker playlist.” Ah, now we’re talking. Dr Dennis Whitaker. Nebraska native. Former med student. And one of the leads in HBO’s The Pitt, the Emmy-winning real-time medical drama that’s turning Howell into a major star.
So what’s on the Whitaker playlist? “There’s some funk in there, because that is a character trait that hasn’t been delved into yet. Why is he such a funk fan?” He chuckles, thinking of the glimpses we’ve already been given – including Whitaker’s Edwin Starr-themed ringtone. “It’s also things that get me in the mood… things that just get me in his head space a little bit, things I imagine he listens to – to comfort himself.” From Southern Gothic (Ethel Cain) to Gospel (Pastor T.L. Barrett), the list goes on…
Wearing a black t-shirt and a baseball cap with a “P” embroidered on it, Howell is speaking via Zoom video call from Los Angeles. It’s the second day of the World Cup and Howell is planning a trip to the SoFi Stadium to watch USA vs Paraguay, along with Taylor Dearden, who plays Dr Melissa ‘Mel’ King in the show. “We just got some tickets,” he beams. But he’s mostly excited for the UK to catch up on the dramatic final episodes of season two. “It feels like it’s been a very long time coming. It’s taken about a year and a half for The Pitt to hit overall. I hope people are hungry for it.”
Ravenous more like. The Pitt is what most telly-savvy viewers have been talking about this year. ‘ER meets 24’ may be the sell, but that doesn’t begin to cover the exhilarating nature of the show, with each season arc depicting a gruelling 15-hour shift at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Centre’s emergency room. Season two has had everything from eight-hour erections to ICE agents, as well as wonderful human drama – led by Noah Wyle’s burned-out senior physician Dr Michael ‘Robby’ Robinavitch (Noah Wyle), who is on his final day before a much-needed three-month sabbatical.
Howell’s Whitaker is returning as a newly-qualified doctor – following the “shift from hell” that was season one, when he was a green-around-the-gills fourth year med student. “He’s completely in his stride now, he’s clearly given himself some comfort methods, I suppose,” Howell says. “I think it’s a bit of a mask, to be honest with you. I think he’s thrown himself into the work, overly making himself useful to avoid slipping back into [the horrors he faced in] season one, but it’s working for him – and that’s how he’s surviving.”
“I’m terrible with blood. If I get my blood taken, it’s very likely that I will pass out 10 minutes later”
Season two also confirms that Whitaker has, potentially, crossed ethical boundaries, enjoying what his colleague Dr Santos (Isa Briones) calls “friends with farm benefits” – alluding to his blossoming relationship with Amy, the widow of a farmer who died on Whitaker’s first shift in season one. And yet Howell’s empathetic portrayal has made him a fan favourite. Like the moment when he tells med student Ogilvie (Lucas Iverson): “I like being here for people on the worst day of their lives.” Howell smiles in recognition of the line. “It was significant because it’s the first time I think he opens up emotionally, so I think that says a lot about him.”
With the first season winning five Emmys, including Outstanding Drama Series, one of the real talking points is just how real it feels. “It’s such an immersive experience. There’s nothing like it,” says Howell, who is all too aware of how important it is to get such details right and show what medical professionals deal with on a daily basis. “You could really feel it in the room – how important this show could be for them. They just want to be seen. If it’s something that these people can refer to… maybe something that is a reflection of their life… that’s what I think we’re always trying to achieve.”
Arguably, one of the most telling moments comes as ICE agents arrive with an injured, detained undocumented woman – their presence sending patients and medics fleeing. “You could feel the weight of that, how big of an issue it is here, but I love that they’re not shying away from that,” says Howell. “You want to reflect what day-to-day life really is like – and the writers, they took a lot of care to get real stories and make sure this wasn’t an exaggeration of what happens.”
As for Howell, he’s learned to cope with a set that’s awash with (fake) blood. “It’s really weird. On the show, I don’t get grossed out at all. Not really. If a prosthetic is a bit too real and there’s a needle going in, sometimes that’ll get me, but a chest cavity? No big deal. I don’t know why. I’m just thinking ‘God, this is really expensive, I hope I don’t break it!’ But in real life, I’m terrible with blood. If I get my blood taken, it’s very likely that I will pass out 10 minutes later. That’s happened! I’m really, really bad with it.”
Howell grew up in Barry Island, Wales, with the idea of acting a very distant notion – until his mother’s friend, Karen Walters, the head of drama at Barry Comprehensive, recruited him for school plays. “I was a very, very shy child, but I think I just had… it’s a weird thing to say, but I had a big imagination,” he reveals. “It was just a great outlet for that and, in hindsight, I think it was good to be able to express yourself when you are a very shy child. It allows you to literally follow a script and have fun – it gives you purpose, I guess.”
Around the age of 13, Howell auditioned for the CBBC series Young Dracula, playing the young Vlad as he and his family of vampires decamp from Transylvania to rural Wales. “I still get a lot of people coming up and talking to me about Young Dracula. It was five seasons… it was a big part of my life. I’m always surprised… do I still look like that? I looked foetal! Maybe I was trying to get away from that in some ways [with The Pitt].”
Blessed with good genes – the 35-year-old still easily passes for early twenties – Howell’s move from child star to adult actor wasn’t entirely smooth. “There was definitely a transition, when I was in my late twenties, where there’d be castings and they’re looking for someone who looks 19 or 18, and I’m 27 and then casting directors would be like, ‘Yeah, but he’s 27!’ They wouldn’t even want to see me. They’d be like, ‘There’s no way this guy can look 18!’”
Yet, babyfaced looks aside, Howell has found himself working with some highly accomplished directors – including John Boorman (Deliverance, Point Blank) on his 1950s romance Queen And Country, alongside Callum Turner, and Sam Mendes on his First World War drama 1917. He played Private Parry, one of the soldiers that George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman’s men-on-a-mission come into contact with. That’s a lot of war, right there. “Make from that what you will,” says Howell. I’ve got a face for war!”
“I have less places to hide, now that ‘The Pitt’ is out in the UK”
The Oscar-winning epic, all filmed in long, unbroken takes to appear as if one continuous shot, was a true baptism of fire for Howell. “We have long takes in The Pitt, but that is nothing compared to 1917. They’re both very well-oiled machines but, yeah, 1917 was a terrifying experience. I was very fortunate that my scene – blink and you’ll miss me – happens at the very start of one of the cuts… I did mess up one take, which just makes me want to turn inside-out when I think about it, but thank god it was at the start.”
Soon after, Howell made his first major foray into American television in Catch-22, the 2019 limited series based on the classic Joseph Heller anti-war novel. The rumour goes that it was his co-star George Clooney that recommended him to the makers of The Pitt. Any truth in that rumour? “I still haven’t got to the bottom of it,” he says. “I’m scared to ask. I know Noah and George are close but… If that is the case, it’s good to know that as long as you aren’t an arsehole, you can be recommended further on down the line.”
As for Wyle, Clooney’s former ER co-star, Howell is reluctant to call him a mentor. “I don’t think any of us expect that from him, but there’s a lot of mirroring – the position that Dr Robby has in the ED, and all of us coming into this big, potentially scary job, and looking to him for support. Yeah, that’s very much mirrored in the actor and the character. He really sets the precedent as a number one on the call sheet.”
With Wyle by his side, Howell now spends eight months of the year in LA making The Pitt. Does he miss Wales? “I still get time to go home, go back to Barry when I can, and it makes me appreciate it more!” As the show’s fame has spread, so has Howell’s “I have less places to hide now, now that it’s out in the UK. I was enjoying it being this big thing in the US – and then being able to hide back in my hovel in east London.”
As production on season three is now “ramping up”, Howell realises this could be, if not a job for life, then one that’ll take him into the 2030s. “They’ve created a bit of a lightning in a bottle [situation] and they’re running with it,” he smiles. Has he given thought to what comes next? “I’m genuinely just open to whatever comes my way,” he replies, earnestly. “You can’t really control that. You’re a sailor on the sea.” Maybe Captain Clooney can recommend him for another gig.
‘The Pitt’ is available to stream on HBO Max now. The season two finale airs on July 3
Gerran Howell portrait credits:
Photographer: JJ Geiger
Styling: Savannah Mendoza
Grooming: Candice Birns