ER creator Michael Crichton’s estate sues for breach of contract over reboot of series

‘If Warner Bros. can do this to Michael Crichton, no creator is safe,’ spokesman for author’s widow says of its alleged ER reboot, The Pitt

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A scene from Michael Crichton creation ER with actors Anthony Edwards (left) and Noah Wyle. A lawsuit filed by Crichton’s estate against Warner Bros., alleging the studio is rebooting the TV series as The Pitt in breach of an agreement with the author, names Wyle as a co-defendant. Photo: Reuters

Published: 4:15am, 29 Aug 2024Updated: 9:58am, 29 Aug 2024

The estate of bestselling author Michael Crichton has filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. Television, actor Noah Wyle and producer John Wells for breach of contract over a reboot of the blockbuster TV series ER.

According to the complaint, filed on August 27 in Los Angeles Superior Court, the Crichton estate spent nearly a year unsuccessfully negotiating with Warner Bros. for the right to reboot the celebrated medical drama that ran on the NBC network in the United States.

When the parties did not reach an agreement, the studio “simply moved the show from Chicago to Pittsburgh, rebranded it The Pitt, and has ploughed ahead without any attribution or compensation for Crichton and his heirs”, the lawsuit alleges.

The move is a “callous disregard for Crichton’s inception of ER”, a “personal betrayal” of a 30-year friendship between the author and John Wells, the original series’ showrunner, and “an effort to rob his heirs of the fruits of one of his greatest creations”, the complaint states.

John Wells (right) and Michael Crichton at the 16th Annual Producers Guild Awards in 2005, where ER producer Wells received the David Susskind Achievement Award in Television. Photo: Stephen Shugerman/Getty Images/TNS

Wells has been announced as executive producer of The Pitt and Wyle is set to both star and serve as an executive producer.