You may already be familiar with Iranian-American actor Sepideh Moafi from her role as an FBI agent on the 2022 Apple TV+ series Black Bird, or from her participation in perhaps the hottest queer throuple of all time on The L Word: Generation Q. But it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll see her in a whole new way on the second season of The Pitt.
The celebrated series, which returned to HBO Max on January 8, needed some new blood (pardon the pun) to round out a core cast that included Noah Wyle, Isa Briones, and Katherine LaNasa, and Moafi’s Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi is a wonder as she spars with Wyle’s Dr. Robby and tries to bring some measure of order to the madness of Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center.
Ahead of The Pitt’s return, Vogue caught up with Moafi about auditioning for the part with the flu, working with Wyle, and trying to get her head around the role of AI in both medicine and Hollywood.
Vogue: Congratulations on this beautiful season of TV! How are you feeling about The Pitt’s recent renewal?
Sepideh Moafi: It was such a beautiful premiere event, and hearing that news about the renewal for Season 3 all together in that room was amazing. You know, seeing Noah and [executive producer] John [Wells] and [series creator] Scott [Gemmill] react as they were about to step onstage was a pretty precious moment.
Were you a fan of The Pitt before you joined Season 2?
I was! When I started watching it I had the flu, and when I received the audition for the show, I couldn’t even speak. I mean, this flu knocked me out worse than both times I had COVID, so I thought maybe I’d prep a bit by just watching a couple episodes. I binged the whole thing in a day and a half. [Laughs.] I was a huge fan, and on top of that, once I read about my character, I just completely fell in love with her and her presence on the show and what she adds. It’s very exciting.
What drew you most to the character of Dr. Al-Hashimi?
She’s very clear-headed, and she’s well-intentioned. She doesn’t necessarily wear her heart on her sleeve, but her heart is always in the right place. She’s insanely talented, highly skilled, deeply ethical. She challenges the status quo. She shakes the culture up a bit, and she’s not afraid to challenge hierarchy. I kind of fell in love with her mind and her heart, because she’s equal parts intellect and empathy—she has this Promethean drive for innovation and the advancement of medicine and patient-centered care. She’s brilliant, and she’s deeply good and cultured and curious and humble. She’s all these qualities that I want to embody, so I learned from her every day.
What did your acting process look like?
Oh, man, it was kind of intense, because I didn’t have much time. I basically absorbed as much as I could through immersion, medical texts, podcasts, and conversations with working physicians and friends who are doctors who work here in the US and abroad. We had a brief bootcamp that established tentpoles of knowledge we touch on throughout the season, and from there, I kind of dove in headfirst. I mean, I’m still prepping. I’m still not done. I’m still absorbing as much as I can, reading as much as I can, and thinking deeply about asking as many doctors as I can as many questions as I can. I have long conversations with each of our technical advisors before each episode to get a sort of lay of the land with the procedures, the terminology, and also the emotional landscape. That initial, brief, pre-production prep grounded me in the reality of the world of The Pitt, so that once we started filming I could stop thinking about the mechanics and focus on presence, rhythm, and tracking Baran’s thoughts and her inner world. I mean, the goal is always ultimately to make the work invisible, right?
Dr. Al-Hashimi ruffles some feathers on Season 2 with her embrace of artificial intelligence. Do you have feelings about the increasing ubiquity of generative AI in Hollywood?
My God, it terrifies me. I think all of us are terrified by the potential of being replaced by robots or by computer images that sort of memorize and mimic our likeness and create fully fleshed-out, dimensional performances, so I definitely had harsh judgments about AI before walking into this project. In order to get into Baran’s headspace, I talked to some experts and I read this book by Eric Topol called Deep Medicine that kind of made me realize why Baran takes her position. She’s not advocating for replacement, obviously; she’s advocating for support and for reducing burnout and blind spots so that doctors can stay present and human.
The vast majority of doctors spend the majority of their time charting and doing admin work, and such a small fraction of that time is spent with the patient at the bedside. I think it’s something like 28% of their time that is spent with the patients, so it’s about sort of offloading a bit of that responsibility—with strict staff supervision—so that the healthcare physicians can relieve some of their own burdens and tend to their own mental health, but mainly so they can prioritize presence with patients. It’s really about stewardship and asking who controls these tools, and who they ultimately serve? Because, from Baran’s perspective, and I think realistically, if we think about it, this is a moving train that we just need to find ways to get on and control before it controls us, right? We need to make sure that the people who are the stewards of this technology have their heads and hearts and minds in the right place, which, in the world that we live in, is not very likely, right? It’s complicated. But no, in terms of our industry, it’s something that I think about and that I spiral about often. I come from a theater background, so I know that there is no art without people. Art doesn’t exist without humans because it’s an expression of humanity.
Do you have a favorite moment you can share from The Pitt set?
Oh my God, there are so many moments that I cherish. I think when Noah and I have our scenes, I can’t speak for Noah, but it definitely feels mutual that we enjoy each other’s presence and we enjoy working together and we both fully sort of throw ourselves into the work and the imaginative play space and try new things and experiment. Just the other day, we shot a big scene from Episode 15, the final episode, and it was a really intense scene, but we really enjoyed doing that intense, kind of heavy work together, and we talk and make light in between takes. It’s very easy and playful and explosive and fun when we get to work together.
What are you most looking forward to about seeing Season 2 of The Pitt come out?
I’m excited for audiences to hopefully feel that this is a continuation of the first season, and that it’s not like, Oh, now that this is a hit show, it’s this shiny, new, glossy, more elevated thing. It’s the same show 10 months later, and I’m excited to be able to add a different fabric to the tapestry of The Pitt. I’m excited to bring Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi’s diverse medical background to the show, and I’m excited to be able to embody this woman who, as I said, is equal parts empathy and intellect. She’s so deeply, almost disarmingly empathetic and compassionate, and yet she has hard edges and firm boundaries, and she sort of can be rigid in her way. She’s flawed like any other character, but I feel especially honored that even though it’s not explored too much in the show, it is brought up a few times that she was a medical humanitarian who worked with Doctors Without Borders, and that background influences her approach to her work. I’m an ambassador with the International Rescue Committee, and advocacy work is a huge part of my life and my existence and my background as a refugee, and so I’m glad that we get to weave some of that in as well. And I’m excited for all of this season’s secrets to be revealed. [Laughs.]
This conversation has been edited and condensed.
