Warning: The post contains spoilers for The Pitt, season 2, episode 4.

The Pitt finally addresses Tracy Ifeachor’s exit from the show.

Episode 4 of the second season of the hit medical drama, which aired Jan. 29, sees Noah Wyle’s Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch overhear his team discussing Ifeachor’s senior resident Dr. Heather Collins. As it turns out, she is thriving outside of the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center.

First year resident Dr. Dennis Whitaker, played by Gerran Howell, checks in on Louie Cloverfield, a recurring patient at the hospital. The patient, portrayed by Ernest Harden Jr., struggles with alcohol addiction and is also featured in the first season.

“How’s the tooth feeling?” he asks Louie, who is experiencing major tooth pain in addition to withdrawal symptoms.

“The whole side of my face is numb,” Louie says, to which Whitaker responds, “That’s how we like it.” The doctor is joined by new med student James Ogilvie, played by Lucas Iverson, and the two plan the patient’s treatment.

As they discuss Louie’s diagnosis, he says, “Is Dr. Collins around? The sister always helps me out.” Robby peeks his head into the room and hears Whitaker tell Louie, “Dr. Collins finished her residency and took up a job in Portland as an attending physician.”

Robby watches intently as Whitaker delivers the news. “Portland?” Louie asks, and Whitaker explains that Dr. Collins is from the city. “She’s adopting a baby and wanted to be closer to her family,” he continues.

Robby’s face falls as he closes the door and walks away.

Wyle, who also writes, produces and directs the show, takes PEOPLE behind the scenes of the major reveal.

“We wanted to keep it interesting. The moment you find out what her character’s been up to, that was a scene I wasn’t supposed to be in,” he tells PEOPLE exclusively. “It was really just a scene between Whitaker and Louie, where he says he wants to be treated by a Black doctor, preferably Dr. Collins, who he had a rapport with. And then he’s informed that she’s not working there.”

“I remember thinking, ‘This is an interesting opportunity.’ What if I poke my head in that door and get that little bit of information about where she is?” Wyle, 54, continues. “Hearing somebody else talk about it and getting the audience to see how that lands with him could be significant.”

Robby had a budding romance with Collins in the first season, but now he’s catching the attention of a few other women in the workplace. This season, he has flirted with case manager Noelle Hastings (Meta Golding) and shared a lingering look with his temporary replacement Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi (Sepideh Moafi) after she suggested they go out to coffee.

Wyle says these encounters are a bit of a red flag.

“It depends on which frame you put around it. On one hand you could say, ‘Oh, look at that. Robby’s got a social life.’ On the other hand, you look at it and go, ‘Oh, Robby’s got a social life where there’s always an out.’ There’s always an escape hatch. There’s always a ticking clock on it, and a point at which he’s not willing to go any farther,” he says.

“We’re looking at somebody who flirts with connection but isn’t capable of connection. There is no character who talks about having gone to dinner with Robby or having hung out with Robby. We never get a sense that he sees any of these people really, except for Noelle, outside the hospital. Even in that relationship, they keep it very professional at work to not have anybody speculate,” the actor explains.

“So you could look at it and go, ‘Oh, it’s cool that he’s feeling good enough to date.’ But on the other hand, it’s just another form of half-assed therapy,” Wyle says.

The actor told PEOPLE ahead of the season 2 premiere that Robby considers Collins “the one that got away.”

“He could not have given her what she wanted,” he said. “She was a rockstar on an ascension that he would only have been an impediment towards. And if she’s found happiness, God bless.”

Ifeachor announced her exit from the show in July 2025, calling the experience a “blessing” and an “absolute privilege.” Later, co-creators R. Scott Gemmill and John Wells told PEOPLE that her exit was “built into the character from the get go.”

“We always had a plan for that sort of trajectory for that character. The show is set in a teaching hospital. People come and go all the time,” Gemmill said.

New episodes of The Pitt season 2 air Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO Max.