Crichton Widow's Lawsuit Against John Wells and Noah Wyle Over 'ER' Sequel Is Ugly

By Dustin Rowles | TV | August 28, 2024 |

By Dustin Rowles | TV | August 28, 2024 |

Michael Crichton’s widow Sherri Crichton, on behalf of her late husband’s estate, has sued Noah Wyle, John Wells, and Warner Brothers, among others, over an ER sequel that never materialized. Sort of.

What happened is this: Noah Wyle, who played Dr. Carter in the original ER (and was essentially a stand-in on that show for Michael Crichton and his experiences in medical school) and ER’s co-creator, John Wells, decided to develop a sequel to the successful and long-running medical drama. They had it all figured out, except that they had not secured the rights from the estate of ER’s other co-creator, Michael Crichton.

The point of contention, apparently, is that Crichton’s widow, Sherri, insisted upon a “created by” credit, which sounds reasonable considering that he co-created the original ER. This was seemingly a particularly sensitive issue for Sherri Crichton because Warner Brothers had already screwed over her husband by refusing to give Crichton a “created by” credit on the HBO series Westworld. They basically eliminated Crichton from the credits, even though it was originally based on his work.

After extensive negotiations over a year — and Warner Bros.’s evident refusal to give Crichton a story by credit — Wells and Wyle gave up. Instead, they turned their ER sequel into The Pitt, a new series set in a Pittsburgh hospital. Sherri Crichton’s suit claims that it’s the same show, which Deadline essentially confirms after having read the script.

“The shows share the chaotic formula of overworked doctors in an underfunded urban hospital, whose personal lives are explored in between patient crises.”

To be fair, that sounds like every hospital drama. On the other hand, it’s unreasonable to believe that a hospital drama starring the guy from ER, featuring the same premise as ER, and created by the co-creator of ER is not a sequel to ER under a different name and location. On the other other hand, given that so many hospital dramas are similar, isn’t the IP itself what makes this one so valuable?

“Following Crichton’s passing in 2008, WBTV undertook a disturbing pattern of conduct calculated not to celebrate Crichton and the riches he has bestowed upon WBTV, both credit (or any credit, for that matter) and to further profit from Crichton’s creation without paying his heirs a single penny,” the complaint reads. “The Pitt is ER. It’s not like ER, it’s not kind of ER, it’s not sort of ER. It is ER complete with the same executive producer, writer, star, production companies, studio and network as the planned ER reboot.”

The lawsuit is contentious, with Sherri Crichton calling John Wells’ actions “a personal betrayal of a 30-year friendship.” That betrayal is particularly vicious given what Wells had written to Sherri during negotiations, according to the complaint.

“I didn’t know anything about Michael’s name being virtually erased from Westworld. And I think it was despicable. Not only would I have never done anything like that to another writer, it would have never occurred to me to do that to any other writer - much less one of Michael’s stature. It’s stupid, thoughtless and counterproductive - Michael’s name on any show is a plus. He has millions of fans who would have tuned in to a television adaptation of Michael Crichton’s work. Stupid, disrespectful and embarrassing.”

I don’t know how far along production is on The Pitt, but if WBTV is going to have to pay to settle this lawsuit anyway, they may as well pony up and go back to the original idea of an ER sequel series.