[VIDEO] ‘The Pitt’ Guest Star Brittany Allen Says There Was More Between Roxie and On-Screen Hubby Taylor Handley

Megan McLachlan talks to one of the stand-out guest performers on The Pitt: Brittany Allen who plays cancer patient Roxie. 

Brittany Allen hadn’t yet watched The Pitt when she got the call she was “pinned” for Season 2. The reason? Being a mom to a little one left her little time to catch up on TV. 

“I have a three-year-old, which has been a little chaotic,” says Allen. “And back then he was two. So just finding time for TV is hard. But I knew it was a well-loved show. And also I just loved the character, loved the material for the audition. So I knew that it would be something that I would really grow a lot from and be able to sink my teeth into.”

Of course, she knew being on the Emmy-winning drama series was a big deal, but she also knew that her character had a special storyline. When we meet Roxie, she’s in the final stages of cancer, and while no one wants to visit The Pitt, the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center acts as a solace for her, a place for her to let go. 

“I think that arriving at the hospital gave her the space to say the things that she had been withholding up until that point,” says Allen.

The Pitt Roxie Husband Debacle

The Pitt discourse on social media is interesting, to say the least, and Allen was surprised when fans thought that maybe she was in an abusive relationship with her husband Paul, played by Taylor Handley. 

“Once people were kind of over that initial hump, they were able to connect to the brutal truth of what was happening. But there was a little bit of disappointment, I think, to be honest, in those first couple episodes that it was being interpreted that way because Taylor Hanley brought such a human, raw, vulnerable performance to that character. And, you know, it’s a show that balances so many storylines, so many characters, and it does it amazingly well.”

Allen says there was actually a lovely goodbye moment between her and her on-screen husband that didn’t make the cut (release the Roxie and Paul edit!). 

“Some of Roxie and Paul’s genuine love for each other got a little bit lost, and that was unfortunate. Because there were a couple great moments that I wish people could have seen.”

I had a lovely conversation with Allen about her stellar work on the series, including what it was like to work with her on-screen children and find her character’s physicality. Watch or listen below!