{"id":161400,"date":"2025-04-11T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/11\/the-pitts-taylor-dearden-on-that-moving-finale-and-building-a-nuanced-neurodivergent-character\/"},"modified":"2025-04-11T01:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T01:00:00","slug":"the-pitts-taylor-dearden-on-that-moving-finale-and-building-a-nuanced-neurodivergent-character","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/11\/the-pitts-taylor-dearden-on-that-moving-finale-and-building-a-nuanced-neurodivergent-character\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pitt\u2019s Taylor Dearden on That Moving Finale and Building a Nuanced Neurodivergent Character"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The show has dealt with so many timely issues. How did you feel that Mel\u2019s final arc surrounded a thorny conversation around measles and\u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014anti-vaxxers?<\/p>\n

Yeah.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was great. I remember just reading that there have been many outbreaks. Kids die<\/a>. They die. And it\u2019s just such a strange\u2014I can\u2019t get into that mindset. I have no idea why they feel that way, especially when they talk about neurodivergence. Like, \u201cAll of a sudden, this shot gives you autism.\u201d Really, you think that? Okay, I\u2019m just going to walk away from this conversation. It\u2019s all really bizarre, especially when it\u2019s something like measles that is easily eradicated if you just have your shots.<\/p>\n

Seeing especially how fast things move during the mass-casualty [event], Mel was the one that suggested, \u201cWhat if we start donating our blood\u201d Already knowing protocol\u2014knowing that that\u2019s so not allowed\u2014and going, \u201cFuck it, we have to do it.\u201d I like that evolution of Mel\u2019s character, of becoming so much more of an advocate for the patient. It\u2019s less about getting it done legally and with permission, and more about saving lives.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve talked about pitching Noah on an idea for Mel early in the season, drawn from your own experiences with neurodivergence. Did you feel confident from the jump to advocate for your character like that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not really. They had all the scripts written, but we didn\u2019t get to see them or know what happens. So we were like, \u201cIf I do this, will it make sense for the next few episodes?\u201d On individual days, you could pitch something, and usually, if it made sense, they\u2019d hear you out. And maybe you could do a few versions your way and then the other way.<\/p>\n

With Noah, I was just like, \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s a good character choice to have a mumbly-fumbly, constant anxiety person. Then it\u2019s just comic relief, as opposed to real character.\u201d I was trying to think of ways to build confidence, and I pitched what is a very real ADHD thing, which is we are just amazing at emergencies. Something in our brain clicks. We can do things that we read about once freshman year. All of a sudden, we can pull it out.<\/p>\n

This is an actual medical thing. We are overrepresented in emergency departments and firefighters, because there is some weird part of the ADHD brain that clicks into the perfect emergency person. My dad [Bryan Cranston]<\/strong> has ADHD, too, so if I\u2019m ever sick or anything, I just call him.<\/p>\n

Did they tell you why they didn\u2019t want you to know what happens from episode to episode?<\/strong><\/p>\n

With Noah, he went, \u201cThat works.\u201d I went, \u201cIt does?\u201d He was like, \u201cBy this episode you should start getting more and more confident.\u201d But I don\u2019t know. I think there\u2019s an idea from the writer-producer perspective of, \u201cHow cool would it be if they don\u2019t know?\u201d But every actor goes, \u201cIt would be great if we knew everything, actually!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The show has dealt with so many timely issues. How did you feel that Mel\u2019s final arc surrounded a thorny conversation around measles and\u2014 \u2014anti-vaxxers? Yeah. It was great. I remember just reading that there have been many outbreaks. Kids die. They die. And it\u2019s just such a strange\u2014I can\u2019t get into that mindset. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":161401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[27,4308,340,1547],"class_list":{"0":"post-161400","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrity","8":"tag-awards","9":"tag-finale","10":"tag-hbo-max","11":"tag-interviews"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}