HBO's medical drama "The Pitt" has expanded its emergency room set for Season 2, according to production designer Nina Ruscio, who spoke to Deadline about the challenges of keeping the environment visually fresh across dozens of episodes. The series, created by R. Scott Gemmill, depicts a fictional Pittsburgh hospital's emergency department in real time, and Ruscio's design work aims to sustain the show's fast-paced storytelling without the setting feeling repetitive, a task made harder by the fact the set was originally built for a single pilot episode.

For Season 2, the production team completed a fuller 360-degree version of the set by extending work onto a second soundstage that had previously been left partly undeveloped, transforming the triage and waiting room areas into fully immersive, camera-ready spaces. Ruscio noted the show is now working towards 45 episodes total, and that much of her most careful work, from embedded lighting to camera-tested paint and materials, is designed to go unnoticed, alongside small symbolic touches such as an owl carved into the hospital's columns.