Characterization
Howell feels that Whitaker acts as "the audience's point of view if they can't relate to the very complicated medicine that's going on", and described him as having "the worst day of his life" during the first season, which covers his first shift at The Pitt. He explained that the character's empathy comes from being someone to is "a bit lost in his family" and having to "fight for attention", but feels that he "genuinely cares" about his patients and helping people in need, though Howell also feels that this can sometimes be Whitaker's "downfall" because he can struggle with when to put up boundaries and protect himself in the high-pressure environment of the emergency room. [2] Of his character, Howell stated, "his sort of big obstacle is just his confidence. And the fact everything is so overwhelming, him being from like a small rural community, I think his biggest pitfall is just, it’s just a lot, like, being in a big city and then an emergency department on top of that. But I think there’s obviously real competence there. And…he just has to get past [figuring out] how to how to interact with people in this situation.” On the other hand, “I think his strength is the resilience, that he does bounce back from all of these things…I think he kicks himself, but he keeps going. So, I guess that’s sort of that’s commendable — I hope". [3]
Discussing Whitaker's progression between the first and second seasons, Howell noted the character's increased confidence and idolisation of Robby, explaining that "he's massively influenced by Robby. That first shift was a nightmare for everyone. Robby would never admit it, but I think they see each other. Whitaker is just enamored by Robby and is just following in his footsteps a little bit." Howell considers the scene where Whitaker finds Robby having a panic attack during the first season a moment where the character was able to "step-up" and shows how capable of a doctor he can be, and felt it was a very valuable scene for the two characters and helped to establish a closer working relationship between them. [4] Noah Wyle, who portrays Robby, felt that Whitaker was Robby's "new favorite" by the start of the second season following his fallout with Dr. Langdon in season one, and stated, "to have, you know, our Nebraska farmboy, Whitaker, who was the butt of every joke and on the receiving end of every fluid, become a confident physician in his own right was gratifying to the character." On Whitaker and Robby's relationship, Howell explained that he felt the two men had a "weird trauma bond" because they had seen each other "at their lowest" and that Robby subtly shows this through various ways throughout the series, adding that this also creates an "awkward" dynamic between Whitaker and Langdon. [5]
Howell expressed that he enjoyed seeing Whitaker's improvement as a physician when he began receiving scripts for season two, joking that "there's no way [he] could be this incompetent after ten months", and believed that he had "found his stride", but added that there was a "new experience" to challenge Whitaker by having him mentor the two new medical student. Howell expressed that Whitaker would be reluctant to take on the teaching aspect of working at the hospital because he lacked the confidence to believe he would reach a level where that task would be expected of him. Despite this, he felt Whitaker is "actually quite good at managing personalities when it matters" due to his upbringing with his brothers. [2]
