Why Mateo’s Change To Night Shift Is Important For The Pitt Season 2 Explained By Jalen Thomas Brooks

Warning: Mild SPOILERS lie ahead for The Pitt season 2!A fan-favorite nurse has moved to the night shift in The Pitt season 2, and their actor says there’s an important reason for this change.

Hailing from ER vets R. Scott Gemmill, John Wells and Noah Wyle, the latest chapter of the HBO Max medical drama is set on Independence Day, with Wyle’s Dr. Robby preparing to embark on a three-month sabbatical. As he finds himself clashing with the new attending physician, Sepideh Moafi’s Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi, the other doctors and nurses deal with both new high-stakes cases and personal turmoil.

After being absent for the first half of the season, The Pitt season 2, episode 12, “6:00 P.M.”, sees the return of Jalen Thomas Brooks as Mateo, one of the nurses in the ER. While season 1 saw him working the day shift, and building an affectionate dynamic with Shabana Azeez’s Victoria Javadi, season 2 reveals he has moved to the night shift, becoming part of the staff led in part by Shawn Hatosy’s Dr. Abbott.

With 12 of its 15 episodes aired, The Pitt season 2 has not only continued the show’s success streak, but also topped its debut season, currently holding a near-perfect 99% “Certified Fresh” approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Additionally, viewership has more than doubled from season 1, further cementing HBO Max’s faith in the series after greenlighting it for season 3 ahead of the current season’s premiere.

In honor of his return in the show, ScreenRant‘s Grant Hermanns interviewed Jalen Thomas Brooks to discuss Mateo’s role in The Pitt season 2. The star opened up about his character making the leap to the night shift, and how it actually benefits the larger structure of the medical drama, as well as his favorite part of reprising Mateo and getting thrown immediately back into the action.

Mateo Being On Night Shift Helps The Pitt’s Viewers Better Acclimate To The New Cast

Brooks returns as Mateo in the latter half of The Pitt season 2’s most recent episode, as the day shift continues trying to process and chart their various patients after having to go analogue amid the worry of a cyberattack. During these initial moments, audiences are also shown him briefly catching up with Javadi, while also recognizing the chaos the day shift went through.

Compared to his season 1 turn, Brooks’ role is relatively short in The Pitt season 2, which the star explains is both due to his busy schedule with Prime Video’s adaptation of Off Campus and a narrative decision on the creators’ part to move him to the night shift. In their early discussions about his scheduling conflict, the group actually came to realize it would “work out perfectly,” as Mateo’s night shift role would be an important transition for viewers:

Having a nurse that the audience is familiar with come in through the night shift with Abbott, it’s these two characters that can ground you in the night shift, so it’s not so unfamiliar. It was kind of nice narratively. But it all worked out, somehow, which is great to do two projects, and to leave The Pitt, but then also be able to come back. The timing worked out perfectly, but I know it’s props to the casting and all the writers to fit me in.

Brooks went on to share the conversations he and Hatosy had while filming The Pitt season 2 about getting to be the two returning characters working in the night shift, allowing viewers to feel that “we know some of those people” and could act as an “entry point” into the chaos of said shift. However, Brooks also denoted that one new creative muscle he got to flex was “stepping into [Mateo’s] relaxed, calm and more settled demeanor,” something he says the night shift requires.

Finding it to be a “really, really fun” chance to showcase a new side of his character, the star went on to point out that “it’s been 10 months since everything that happened” in The Pitt season 1, particularly the harrowing PittFest mass shooting. As such, Mateo has had the time to find “this balance” within himself of having “experienced this [tragedy],” but also still push himself to come back to work.

Turning to The Pitt season 2’s night shift cast, and getting to help introduce some of them to the series, Brooks recalled it being a “crazy” experience, particularly as he himself was “nervous to come back in.” However, he also compared it to the way Wyle viewed his younger co-stars in the series after having led ER for many years, as he “saw all of us come in and stumble with tools,” both as characters and actors in the medical drama. As such, Brooks found it to be “like riding a bike” to get back into the headspace of Mateo and that it was easier to help introduce new stars given they were all thrown right into the mix:

All of us were in traumas all the time, so everybody was just forced to pick it up and run with it, which is really cool to see. And I felt the same. I didn’t feel like I was in a different spot, because I was thrown in there quickly, too, but it was fun. We were always in the same traumas with each other, so there was a real Nightcrawlers’ team dynamic throughout the whole shoot, the last four episodes, it was really nice. We built a team, and it was cool to get that familiarity with all the newcomers.

The Pitt’s Realistic Medical Actions Had Brooks On Edge

After sharing a brief charming moment with Javadi and getting settled for his shift, Mateo is quickly thrown into the mix in The Pitt season 2 when William Guirola’s Orlando Diaz — who earlier came in with a case of diabetic ketoacidosis, but left due to intense medical debt — is brought in after having collapsed and fallen while at a construction site. This not only sees him working with Javadi, but also Supriya Ganesh’s Dr. Mohan, who was treating him during his first stay, to save Orlando.

When asked about getting thrown right into the mix, while also balancing the stability he previously discussed for his character, Brooks described it as being “crazy” and one of the key reasons for his nerve in coming back, as the medical side of things is “a different acting muscle” entirely. Having to keep in mind everything from “the medical jargon” to “the pacing” and “the tools you’re using,” he even recalled his co-stars and crew joking on set that “there was no warm-up” for his return and “they just threw me right into one chaotic emotional sequence for Orlando“:

I was nervous, but it was also really nice. Noah told me, “It’s going to be [like] riding a bike. You don’t ride it for years, and then you come back, and it’s fun. You’ll find your footing.” So it was fun, it was cool to be thrown into the mix so fast, just come back with a trauma scene. And also, to be a part of this crack in the surface for Mohan, Supriya [Ganesh]’s character, was really lovely to see, and it’s impactful.

Be sure to dive into some of our other Pitt season 2 coverage with:

Dr. David Shapiro on which character in The Pitt is “quintessentially the best representation” of any medical professional on TV
Dr. Shapiro on how a specific ER character made the show “major cringe” for him
Jalen Thomas Brooks on how The Pitt‘s night shift is different from the day shift
Brooks weighing in on fans shipping Mateo and Javadi
Taylor Dearden offering an encouraging update on The Pitt season 3’s release timeline