WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for The Pitt's season 1 finale!Dennis Whitaker (Gerran Howell) will return in The Pitt character, Whitaker began the series as a fourth-year medical student, starting his first day in the hospital’s emergency department alongside Dr. Santos, Dr. Mel King, and medical student Victoria Javadi. Though he wasn’t the only med student, the fact that he wasn’t officially a doctor played an increasingly significant role in his story.

In The Pitt season 1’s ending, it was revealed that Whitaker was secretly living in the hospital’s empty wing, as he had been on the internal medicine rotation there the month before. Santos ended up walking in on Whitaker while he was getting ready for the night, leading the latter to confess his living situation and that he couldn’t afford rent due to medical students not receiving compensation. To help him out, Santos offered him a spare room in her place for free. However, Whitaker’s new role will doubtlessly shake this dynamic up as the hospital finally starts paying him.

Whitaker Being Paid As An Intern In The Pitt Season 2 Means He & Santos Likely Won't Be Roommates Anymore

Whitaker Will Be Able To Afford Housing In Season 2

Series creator R. Scott Gemmill confirmed to TVLine that Whitaker’s position will be raised to an intern in The Pitt season 2, meaning he’ll finally start receiving compensation. As such, Whitaker will now be able to afford rent in Pittsburgh, so he likely won’t be staying in Santos’ place anymore. Given their contrasting personalities, the idea of Whitaker and Santos being roommates was an exciting development at the end of season 1, and helped highlight the heart and humanity of both doctors by exploring their hardships and empathy outside the hospital walls.

But, Whitaker’s new position means he may be ready to get his own apartment in The Pitt season 2. It’s still possible that Whitaker and Santos could decide to continue living together and decrease their costs of rent each month, but they also may want some space at home since they already see each other every day at the hospital. It’s still unclear exactly how long Whitaker will have been an intern when The Pitt season 2’s story picks up, but if it’s a new development, then he may still be in the process of moving out of Santos’ place.

The Pitt season 2 is expected to premiere on Max as early as January 2026.

Though it’s exciting that Whitaker will finally receive compensation and be able to pay for his own housing, it would have been a great change in The Pitt season 2 to get some insight into Santos and Whitaker living together. Though The Pitt doesn’t follow the doctors home, there would inevitably be plenty of bickering between the two during their shift at the hospital when discussing their roommate habits. We’ll certainly still get references to their roommate history if they’re no longer living together, but it would have been interesting to experience that dynamic as it was happening.

Why Whitaker Living In The Hospital Was Such An Important Reveal In The Pitt Season 1

Whitaker's Story Shined A Light On A Real Problem For Med Students

One of The Pitt’s greatest strengths is how the series subtly but effectively approaches difficult topics in the medical community that aren’t often depicted on television. That includes the high cost of medical school and the fact that many medical students can’t afford the cost of living during that period when they’re not being compensated. While some don’t face this issue with as much difficulty if they come from wealthy families, already have substantial funds, or are still able to live with their families, others, like the Nebraska farmboy-native Whitaker, are hardly able to get by during that period.

Javadi doesn’t have to worry about whether she’ll have a bed to sleep in at night, but it’s one of Whitaker’s biggest obstacles as a med student.

The series’ main characters highlight a large diversity in the backgrounds of these doctors and student doctors at The Pitt’s teaching hospital, with Whitaker and Javadi representing two very different experiences of many real-life med students. While Whitaker can’t afford rent, Javadi’s mother is the hospital’s attending surgeon Dr. Shamsi, whose profession is implied to give her more funds to Javadi while also still allowing her daughter to live at home. Javadi doesn’t have to worry about whether she’ll have a bed to sleep in at night, but it’s one of Whitaker’s biggest obstacles as a med student.

Not to mention, The Pitt season 1 had already put bigger emphasis on some patients who were coming into the hospital and were unhoused. It’s something that audiences and perhaps even fellow staff in The Pitt’s emergency department might not have thought would apply to the doctors as well, making it all the more significant for the series to address this issue. The Pitt sheds light on plenty of difficult subjects in the medical field that may never cross the mind of those outside that community, with housing and compensation for students being important to understand early on.

Whitaker & Santos' Dynamic Will Still Be Very Different In The Pitt Season 2

Whitaker & Santos Will Be Much Closer Than They Were In Season 1

Even if Whitaker has moved out of Santos’ second room by the time the show resumes, the two returning The Pitt season 2 characters will have a very different dynamic from season 1. The Pitt season 2’s timeline has been teased to pick up about nine or ten months after the season 1 finale, so Santos and Whitaker will have spent a significant amount of time living together. That will inevitably change how they interact with each other at work, and will likely make them closer and more ive of each other as they approach new difficulties on the job.

Additionally, seemingly having completed her one-year internship, Santos is expected to be a first-year resident when The Pitt season 2 starts. She’ll get more seniority and agency around the emergency department than she did as an intern, and will have a bit more authority over Whitaker as they treat patients in episodes. Since Santos was still in a largely learning-based position in The Pitt season 1, it’ll be interesting to see how she begins applying her experience to teaching students and interns like Whitaker or Javadi in season 2.

It’ll also be intriguing to learn how the closer dynamic between Santos and Whitaker will affect Langdon’s return in The Pitt season 2. Langdon was sent away from the hospital and encouraged by Robby to enter a recovery program in season 1 after Santos correctly suspected that he was stealing drugs from the emergency department’s supplies. Since The Pitt season 2 will be Langdon’s first day back, he’ll likely still have some resentment and hostility towards her, which could put Whitaker in a trickier position of trying to defend Santos but still needing to adhere to Langdon’s orders.

Source: TVLine