The Pitt fans can relax: Nurse Mateo is officially coming back for season 3

If you thought you'd seen the last of Nurse Mateo on The Pitt, think again. Jalen Thomas Brooks, who’s played the steady hand in navy blue scrubs since the start, has now confirmed he’ll be back on your screen for Season 3 of HBO's critically adored medical drama. The word comes straight from Brooks himself, after a stint of absence last season had everyone speculating he was quietly shuffling off to his gig on Amazon Prime's Off-Campus. Well, turns out he’s not hanging up his stethoscope just yet.

I will be there. I will be in Season 3. I don't know much... but what I do know is that the people behind The Pitt, and that whole creative team, they care a lot about what they're doing. They're so seasoned, and they have stories to tell — important ones, too.

What’s the deal with Mateo?

To catch you up: While Mateo was a proper fixture early on, he all but disappeared for much of Season 2, only resurfacing in episode 12 and doing the night shift under Dr Abbot. Naturally, this led to a fair bit of hand-wringing among fans. Would Brooks be recast? Would Mateo quietly fade out? Instead, we’ve got confirmation that Brooks is sticking around, and apparently, the producers have no qualms about him juggling multiple shows. That’s cleared up, then.

Brooks’ return ends months of speculation about whether Mateo’s ER days were numbered after his casting on Off-Campus.

Romance and Reshuffles

Now, although Mateo's hardly front and centre compared to The Pitt's main doctors, he’s definitely won his share of fans—particularly for his awkward but quite sweet storyline with Victoria Javadi (Shabana Azeez). This is the medical student who, back in season one, famously told Nurse Dana her crush on Mateo left her so breathless it felt like altitude sickness in Utah. If that’s not an endearing way to pine for someone, I don’t know what is. So yes, with Mateo back, the door stays open for more will-they-or-won’t-they with Victoria.

• Mateo’s absence in most of Season 2 left his future on the show in doubt, but that’s now been put to bed with his return for Season 3 officially confirmed.

The rest of the cast, meanwhile, has been more turbulent. Some big faces have vanished, including Dr Heather Collins (Tracey Ifachor) and perhaps more controversially, Dr Samira Mohan (Supriya Ganesh). Mohan's abrupt departure kicked up a storm online, with everyone—from Reddit sleuths to Twitter armchair producers—spinning theories as to why she’d been dropped. But, according to Noah Wyle (who plays the show’s lead and also produces) and show creator R. Scott Gemmill, it was all about story. Apparently, the real world of emergency medicine is just that chaotic—doctors come and go, residents cycle out, and the narrative’s following suit, not feuding behind the scenes.

And if you’re invested in Victoria Javadi, brace yourself: the creators hint she’ll be off the ER floor soon enough, starting a psychiatry rotation come Season 3. It’s anyone’s guess if that means her oddball chemistry with Mateo survives—given this writing team, don’t bank on anything lasting long in The Pitt.

The Pitt returns to HBO Max in January 2027.