Eleven Emmys in two seasons, and HBO Max's answer to The Pitt is a French copy about Paris paramedics
HBO Max has announced a new French drama inspired by The Pitt's success — not a spin-off, but close enough to wind up some fans and delight others.
So, HBO Max clearly isn't finished riding the medical drama wave after the runaway success of The Pitt. If you were hoping for a direct spin-off, temper those expectations, but they've gone and ordered a new French series with a suspiciously similar energy. It's called Rush (that's just a working title, mind), and it's all happening in Paris. You can thank the sensation that was The Pitt for this one—unsurprising, given how much hardware it just hauled in at the 2026 Emmys.
Across two seasons, The Pitt now counts a hefty 11 Emmy Awards on its trophy shelf.
Building on The Pitt’s Hype
This fresh effort was announced at the La Rochelle Fiction Festival in France, which, to be honest, probably isn't on your radar unless you're obsessively tracking European telly news. The basic pitch for Rush: it follows a team of mobile medics weaving their way through emergency calls all over Paris. Think racing through the backstreets, squeezing into packed Metro trains, even occasionally popping up in some tourist photo at a famous landmark. It's not officially tethered to the world of The Pitt—no crossover characters or soap opera continuity to untangle—but you can see the template a mile off. The aim, obviously, is to nudge the audience that just fell in love with the original toward this French take on the genre.
For those tracking every hint of strategy from HBO Max, here's what the company chief in charge of originals, Sarah Aubrey, said at Series Mania earlier this year, outlining the whole blueprint:
To me that's the model to emulate: Take a genre and a set of characters audiences feel very familiar with and want in their homes every week, and overlay that with a creator who is really excited to tell a specific story authentically.
The signals couldn't be more obvious—grab a tried-and-tested format, stick it in a new city, and hope lightning strikes twice.
A Medical Drama Frenzy
All this follows The Pitt's storming of the Emmys this year. The drama took Outstanding Drama Series, and Noah Wyle snagged Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. Other new notches on its CV: awards for Outstanding Casting, Guest Actor, and the sort of Prosthetic Makeup that means you may want to eat your dinner before sitting down to binge. The numbers are stacking up—the show now sits at 11 Emmys from just two seasons, which is a pretty bracing haul no matter how you slice it.
There's a bit of a mixed reaction to Rush in the fandom. Some want more from The Pitt itself—not just another riff on the same urgent chaos. But if you can't get enough of blue-lit ambulances and hard choices at 2 a.m., HBO Max is certainly betting you'll tune in.
And because execs just can't resist commissioning more French drama at the moment, there's another project cooking too—Bodycam, described as a thriller about two French police officers who try to cover up shooting an unarmed teenager. Bit heavier fare, if that’s your thing.