Noah Wyle is continuing to dominate television with the critically acclaimed Emmy-winning HBO Max drama The Pitt, which recently wrapped up its second season on the 2026 TV schedule. The show marks his return to the medical drama genre, following his role as Dr. John Carter on ER, which ended in 2009 after 15 seasons. While the role shot him to superstardom, there were rumors that he auditioned for fellow ‘90s NBC series Friends, and Wyle had an A+ reaction to that speculation.
Coincidentally, there are a couple of fun connections between Friends and ER. The two shows premiered in 1994, just days apart on the same network. Friends has a character named Rachel Green, one of the main friends played by Jennifer Aniston, while ER has a character named Rachel Greene, the daughter of Anthony Edwards’ Dr. Mark Greene, who is played by various child actors throughout the show’s run.
For some reason, fans also got the idea that another connection was made thanks to Wyle, thinking that, before landing Carter, he auditioned for David Schwimmer’s Ross Geller. That was not actually the case. Before ER, he actually turned his nose up at having a TV career, and his response to Variety regarding potentially auditioning for Friends is pretty great:
My memory is a little spotty, but I would remember auditioning for ‘Friends.’ I had a little snobbery about doing TV.
The fact that Wyle was so against doing television until he got ER, and the fact that that’s mostly what he’s done throughout his career, is pretty hilarious. It’s even more hilarious knowing that he actually went on to appear in Friends. Wyle and George Clooney guest-starred as doctors, different from Dr. John Carter and Dr. Doug Ross from ER, during the first season of Friends. It was likely a way for NBC to put eyes on both shows, which were just starting out, but it turned into a pretty memorable episode. And it makes me so happy that Wyle changed his tune about television.
Even though Wyle confirms that he never auditioned for Friends, it does make me wonder just how different things would be had that happened and he got the role of Ross. Friends and ER would be wildly different shows, and Schwimmer and Wyle would have wildly different careers. We probably wouldn’t have The Pitt, we wouldn’t have a lot of other shows and movies, too. It’s hard to imagine anyone else playing Ross and Carter, so I’m glad things ultimately worked out for both of them, especially Wyle.
So, with all that said and done, fans can look forward to a show that Wyle is definitely in, and that’s The Pitt. The show may be done with Season 2, but Season 3 is already on the way. The upcoming season will be streaming with an HBO Max subscription in early 2027, and considering the way that Season 2 ended, there is going to be a lot to catch up on, depending on how far ahead the time jump will be. Both seasons of The Pitt, as well as all seasons of Friends, are streaming on HBO Max.
