Posted in: HBO, Max, TV | Tagged: The Pitt

The Pitt: Isa Briones on Series Fame, Langdon-Santos Tension & More

The Pitt star Isa Briones on playing against type as Dr. Santos, fans being divided over Langdon, Santos/Whitaker, misogyny, and more.

In six years, Isa Briones has been part of some of the biggest TV sensations, first playing multiple parts in Star Trek: Picard, then on the reboot of R.L. Stine's Goosebumps, and now the HBO Max medical drama The Pitt, which just wrapped its second season. Before tackling season three, the actress and singer is taking on the life of Connie Francis in the Broadway musical Just in Time. Even if being on stage is a welcome change from the cathartic ER, it seems like she still can't escape Dr. Trinity Santos from fans randomly catcalling her at her shows, regardless of whether they hate or love the character. Briones spoke to Rolling Stone about how Santos was ideal playing against type, dealing with the divide between Dr. Frank Langdon (Patrick Ball) fans and her own, how Langdon and Santos are far more alike, and Santos' bond with Dr. Dennis Whitaker (Gerran Howel) after becoming roommates on the R. Scott Gemmill series.

The Pitt Star Isa Briones on Fans' Love-Hate Relationship with Dr. Santos, Langdon, Whitaker, and More

When it came to what made Briones embrace playing the abrasive and take-no-shit Santos, "I've played the girl next door before, and there's a time and a place for that type of character. But I think there's something really awesome about not being palatable, especially as a woman. This character is not for everyone," she said. "Sometimes in my everyday walking through the world, I'm like, 'Sorry… Little old me, I'll make myself smaller.' And Santos simply will not do that. She's like, 'I am going to take up space.' And I think that's a really refreshing character to see and powerful to play. It's also a reminder for me to stop apologizing for existing. My god."

As far as what drives the Santos haters, Briones provides a blunt take: "So much of the discourse is very Langdon-versus-Santos, and that's just misogyny. [Those two characters] are actually kind of the same, but one of them is a woman. When women are going through something that is not explicitly said all the time, a lot of people are like, 'I don't like her.' Why is it that when a woman has a lot going on, people are like, 'Oooh, scary'? A lot of people don't have the patience for that with a woman. But I also get that Santos comes in hot. When you first meet her, she's got a lot of these prickly walls up. She has a 'doesn't play nice at recess' vibe. But also, I think it's very clear to see in the nuance of her character there's something going on."

Expanding on the Langdon-Santos standoff relationship, when they are more alike than you might realize, "You hate in other people what you hate about yourself. They've only spent a day together, and they hate each other. But on that one day, he embodied so many of the things that she does not like about herself. Even though she likes to put up this facade that she doesn't care if people like her, she's working really hard to be there," she said. "And when someone completely invalidates that, that can be really triggering. Even if it's not fully conscious, she knows that they are connected and that's why they're so reactive to each other. Langdon coming back and fighting to be reformed, taking the steps to recover, is a reminder that she is maybe not doing everything she can to recover herself. And that just brings up a lot of guilt and shame for her that she doesn't want to feel. So then she just screams at him. She just needs therapy. Actually, the whole crew does."

As far as how Santos and Whitaker bond, "[Whitaker] is just himself. He's always trying to help everyone. He is trying to be her friend and trying to be there for her. She wants it, but she also doesn't know how to [accept it]. She has lost people. She talks in Season One about how one of her best friends took her own life. Since she has a history of abuse by an authority figure, she thinks 'anyone I let close to me is either gonna hurt me or leave me,'" Briones said. "The quality of their friendship is her being like, 'Shut up and go away.' But that's their love language together. So when she finds out that he's leaving, I think she's scared to be alone. Now, everything would all be solved if they just talked. That's the moral of The Pitt. Everything would be solved if everyone had a real conversation and went to therapy. But that's not happening. So it triggered her to think, 'Oh, so you're leaving me. I was right. Everyone's gonna leave me. I'm just gonna put my walls up. Fuck you and bye.' [Santos] just wants a friend and doesn't know how to approach it. You know when you have a puppy and they've got to be socialized with other puppies in a little pen? She needs to be put with all the other puppies and just forced to play."

For more on Briones talking about the ensemble cast's bonds across both seasons, tapping into an expanding fanbase, social media habits, if she would consider getting her own family to cameo on the series, what nickname Santos would give her, and more, you can check out the entire interview. Both seasons of The Pitt, which also stars Noah Wyle, Katherine LaNasa, Supriya Ganesh, Fiona Dourif, Taylor Dearden, Shabana Azeez, Sepideh Moafi, and Ayesha Harris, are available on HBO Max.

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