It has been a while since Noah Wyle became a genuine TV star on ER, but it’s been even longer since Wyle's very first episode ever. So long, in fact, that the baby he "delivered" is now a fully grown man. He recently mused on this in a recent interview, and it seemed to give him quite a reality check about the longevity of his career.
In a recent interview at the Time 100 Gala, the actor was asked about Baby Jane Doe, who was an abandoned infant in the hospital on Season 2 of his show The Pitt. Wyle pointed out that this baby certainly wasn’t the first newborn he's worked with over the years, and that he was in a similar position for his rist outing as ER's Dr. John Carter. He mused that this baby would now be 32 years old, considering this September marks the 32nd anniversary of the hit show's premiere, and that time span surprised even him. As he put it:
It occurred to me that the baby I deliver in the pilot ER is a 32 year old man walking around somewhere, which is sobering. Yeah, I’ve worked with a lot of babies over the years.
For context, in the first episode of ER, titled "[24 Hours]," Wyle’s character John Carter helps deliver a baby in the ER of a woman who was about to give birth in a taxi cab. It's a rather “pinch me” introduction to the job for the burgeoning medical student, and the actor plays the scene with beautiful naivety, giving audiences our earliest peek into the character's stoicism and professionalism.
Wyle has come a long way since he played a medical student, and his character John Carter rose through the ranks at County General Hospital on the 11 seasons he appeared on ER.
Of course, Wyle took on another medical drama, portraying the senior Emergency Attending Physician on HBO Max's The Pitt. I’m hoping we get a follow up on that series' Baby Jane Doe in another 32 years, but Wyle pointed out that at that point, he’d be a hard-of-hearing old man. Here's how he envisions that interaction:
She’ll come back [saying] ‘Do you remember me Dr. Robbie’ and I’ll be like ‘What? Huh?'
Reflecting on how long it’s been since he worked with his first baby on ER seems to make Noah Wyle feel old, but truthfully I think it speaks to the longevity of his career. Not only did he play John Carter for 15 years on ER, becoming one of the most beloved TV characters of all time, but he came back to play another trauma doctor in a whole new light. He clearly is incredible at what he does, and I hope we get to watch Wyle inspire us all in an emergency room for another 32 years.
You can see Noah Wyle on the recently wrapped second season of The Pitt, which is streaming via HBO Max subscription. The actor won an Emmy for his performance, and will likely be in the mix for years to come. Fans of ER can also revisit that series, including John Carter’s first appearance, via Hulu subscription.
