Katherine LaNasa talks to The Contending about why Dana returns to The Pitt and what becomes of Baby Jane Doe in Season 2.
After being assaulted by a patient, Dana vows that she’s done working in the ED at the end of The Pitt Season 1.
But of course, audiences loved seeing their favorite nurse show up for her shift in those aviator shades at the start of Season 2. What happened that made Dana return? Emmy-winning actress Katherine LaNasa pulls from Aretha Franklin to explain why her character decides to don scrubs again.
“I watched this interview one time, and she used to wear fur coats and someone said,, ‘Are you afraid of someone throwing paint on your coat?’ And she’s like, ‘Nobody’s going to throw paint on Aretha’s coat.’ And I think Dana felt like that in the Pitt, you know, in the ED, like nobody’s coming after me. I run this place. I think she had a lot of pride in that.”
Dana gets to run the place on a very hectic day in Season 2. Between Dr. Langdon (Patrick Ball) returning, Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle) departing on sabbatical, and ICE entering the premises, there’s rarely a time for her to have a moment to herself.
The only time is when she’s collecting the rape kit for sexual assault survivor, Ilana, played by Tina Ivlev, whom LaNasa calls “one of the finest actors” she’s ever worked with. When Ilana needs a break from the process, Dana sighs, and we see her left alone in the exam room.
“I think it’s a moment I rarely get, you know,” says LaNasa, “and I think I really am really concerned about her doing that rape kit. I just want that rape kit complete. And I don’t think that Dana’s thinking about how that mirrors the violence against her. I don’t think she’s actually thinking about that, but I think she just really wants to get that rape kit completed. And I think that there’s probably just a lot of grief and anger about all the violence against women, period, and that lack of justice around it.”
I had a great conversation with LaNasa about Dana’s backstory with the hospital, whether she is more unhinged from the assault, and what Pittsburgh and New Orleans have in common. Watch or listen below!
