‘The Pitt’ Interview: Alexandra Metz dives into Dr. Garcia
Alexandra Metz talks Garcia’s preparation, the work life and the many relationships of the Emergency Room in the hit show The Pitt.
2025 may have started off slowly for film but television as a medium has been thriving more than ever. It arguably hasn’t been since pre-pandemic where TV was in a reasonable place. Since COVID-19, the actor/writer strikes and the streaming model taking over there has been a noticeable shift in the TV model.
The Pitt may prove to be the biggest surprise of the year, as far as TV viewers are concerned. A medical drama set in real time across a 15 hour shift that is in pursuit of realism of the Emergency department, while raising awareness of the lack of support for healthcare systems.
I had the pleasure of sitting down and talking with Alexandra Metz who plays the character Dr. Garcia in the show. We dive into the preparation of her role, the development of Garcia’s character, the creative process for the show, collaborating with Noah’s guidance and Garcia’s relationship with Santos and Langdon.
Zak Ahmed: It is perhaps the first time in a long time l have seen word of mouth play a big part in giving the show attention. Your performance and role plays a big part in that success. So to start off, could you talk me through the process of your audition and how the character was initially described to you?
Alexandra Metz: My audition was sent to me at the end of May 2024 and I heard that Garcia was a badass who is slightly arrogant but knows what she's talking about, knows how to get the job done. I put myself on tape. I went to New York to visit my grandfather, who's 102, and I visit often. He's a gift of a human being. And while we were out to sushi one day, cause we love sushi, my manager called me saying, when you get back, you have a call back for the show, The Pitt. And I said cool, great!
I came back to a Zoom call with John Wells and Scott Gemmill, the show runner. It was a lovely time to work on the scene once with John, who directed the first episode. We did it once. I had fun. He was pleased. I think he gave me a note just to see if I could take a note and have fun with it. And I did. Then we moved on to the second scene and he was also really pleased.
You could get the sense that people were pleased. They had seen what they wanted to see and I did what I wanted to do with it. An hour after that zoom call, I found out that I was the creative team's favourite. I had to wait two days to get official approval from the entire network and studio and I got the job done.
Zak: You did an amazing job. So they were right as a favourite. I briefly looked at your IMDb profile. It states that you graduated in Brown University in human biology and now you're playing a doctor in a show. Did that help inform your preparation for the role and why the transition from a science background into the arts.
Alexandra: Good question. It absolutely helped inform my performance and my understanding of the ED (emergency department) but also the medical world at large. I was in the eight-year medical program at Brown. They have a program called the Program for Liberal Medical Education, PLME for short. You apply as a high schooler under the assumption that you want to be a doctor. I did not necessarily want to be a doctor. I was good at the sciences and math and had always excelled in school. My mother is a single mother from Panama. As an immigrant, she wanted her daughters to excel and succeed, and so we had the option of lawyer, doctor or actuarian. So the eldest sister is a lawyer. The middle sister is a Doctor who also went through Brown's program for liberal medical education and I was thinking about becoming an actuarian.
But I was like, hey, I'll apply to Brown's program. My sister was there at the time I got in, and then while at Brown, I was exposed to liberal education, a wide swath of courses that I was able to take because the program allows you to work outside of the sciences and your medical track in order to be a more well-rounded person. That opened the door to my understanding of the other things I could study, and acting and the arts was a big thing that I really wasn't exposed to previously at that point. So I found my heart was expanding in ways that I had never felt. I was learning at a rate I had never experienced. That's when I made the shift into acting and had this intuition for this craft, but also knowing that it would always teach me something throughout each character that I got to play, every story I got to inhabit. I've always loved learning. I've always been voracious for education of any and all kinds. So it kind of blends together all of my interests.
Zak: Funny enough, I studied in biomedical science, so I have that scientific background too. But halfway through the course, I switched to film. So now I'm doing journalism and slowly getting into full-time acting.
Alexandra: Oh that’s wonderful!
Zak: It's nice seeing that other people who have that STEM background can also transition to the arts. Especially when we're of immigrant families, we have that innate pressure where family wants you to either be the lawyer or the doctor cos they think there's no money or security anywhere to be found as a filmmaker. But we have to do what we love, the arts are so important.
Alexandra: Exactly.
Zak: As we watch the show, we see that Garcia is quite confident, level-headed and clearly knows what she's doing. She's eager to take on new students and bring them up to speed as we see with Dr. Santos. So when you took on that character, was it the exact same as it was initially described or did it take on a different journey as you started trying to figure her out while going through the table reads?
Alexandra: It was pretty much consistent with the original read and what I had garnered from the script. Certainly things expanded as storylines begin and progress, adding to the fabric of the story that we're telling, but I think it was on track with what I had read when I first got the script. As it's a teaching hospital, there’s certainly this friction of wanting to get things done efficiently, but we have these young student doctors there to teach. So there's friction that occurs, but it's still in the same vein of confidence and competence.
Zak: Did you instantly click with your character or was there a moment somewhere when everything fell into place for you as you navigated Garcia’s path?
Alexandra: I feel like I instantly clicked. As you can tell, I'm a really smiley person but it's fun to step into someone where there's just no time for smiling on this job. I think you see glimpses of Garcia who might have a drink after work or go out with co-workers, let loose a little bit and release some of the pressures of the job. But there's something so gratifying about stepping into the seriousness and the setting, the stakes that we're experiencing in this job, I loved it. Because I was part of the cleaning program at Brown, I know so many doctors I was classmates with and remain friends with. They're different outside of work as my friends, but when I hear the stories that they tell about what it is in the workspace, they kind of turn into this, they lock into something else that is really powerful and inspiring. I love hearing about that stuff. So I definitely borrowed from some doctor personalities. I also borrowed from some unsavoury personalities that I know who, while I may not always agree with them, I can respect the approach to things and the resolute focus that they need in order to accomplish the tasks at hand.
Zak: As a medical drama, it's surprisingly anti-drama in a traditional sense. We don't get to see anything outside the hospital, we don't know the personal lives or the backstories and we're just stuck in the workplace. As an actor trying to go through the paces with your character, was that a challenging approach to understanding where your character goes, or did it help simplify your approach to bringing Garcia to life as a lived in character?
Alexandra: That's a really good question. I think that the onus is on the artist to fill in the backstory and to create the layers. And in a way, while trying to figure that out, I realised what I'm bringing as Alexandra is going to come through as well. So my own lived in life, even if I'm not actively thinking “Oh, I'm going to this thing that I'm living in my life”, I'm gonna infuse into the character. It's still gonna breathe through me. So there's the inherent life that's being lived. There's the story on top of it, the medical stuff. But then the little relationships that start to pop in between Santos or between Langdon and Robbie, of course, I love that it's not all spelled out and it's that much more accurate and realistic because of that. I think that there's little things that I infuse for myself and in terms of surgery too. It takes a really specific kind of person to be a surgeon and to again turn on and turn off when you need to really focus all your energy into this one thing when you're at work. I had a really good time creating that heart that that walks through the space and also blending it with my own person.
Zak: You've worked on shows before, most notably Grey's Anatomy and with The Pitt being another medical drama, did that prior experience make it easier to participate, and how did they differ to you?
Alexandra: Oh, they're very different in tone. But I played a patient in Grey's Anatomy and I also spoke Spanish the entire episode, which was a first for me. I am bilingual as I mentioned my mom's from Panama, but my Spanish is not something that I get to use as often as I'd like. So it was quite a challenge to step into playing an Argentinian woman, which is also a totally different accent. It's very European and Italian sounding compared to Panamanian or Dominican Spanish. I'm from New York which is a place where there's a lot of Latinos who are Dominican or Puerto Rican. So my Spanish is kind of an amalgamation of those accents and dialects. The Argentinian one was one that I had to work on. And we had a dialect coach, luckily for Grey's.
Not to spoil if you haven't seen the episode, but I'm gonna spoil it. My character, she's a visitor, she's a tourist in the country, doesn't speak any English, and her son gets into fentanyl. And that's a really scary thing because her son is only about 8 years old, so she doesn't know what's happening and he could die. But when they figure out that it's fentanyl, they accuse her of neglect. But in the end you realise that she didn't have fentanyl. It was the Airbnb that they rented that had someone who left their drugs behind in one of the bedside tables. So she gets arrested in the episode. There's a lot that happens and I think that in terms of comparing to The Pitt, I mean it's a storyline that you could possibly see on The Pitt, but I got to play it from the other side of the tracks.
Zak: As a doctor having the patient perspective, does that make a difference? Humans are like empathy machines and going through the treatment on the other side, knowing that can make it easier or harder to offer treatment yourself, but how do you see it.
Alexandra: Except that surgeons, per my understanding, are very different in the sense that they don't really like to hear their patients speaking too much. They like doing surgery. They like what their patients are under so they can do what they're really good at, cut someone open, fix the problem, be done, move on to the next surgery, which they always look forward to.
If I were to be a character more on the same page as Dr. Mohan, for instance, then that empathy of having played a patient or having been a patient as Alexandra many times before, having had ACL surgery, my appendectomy, having had endometriosis, which I live with and had surgery for two years ago. I've been on the other end. if I were to play a character like Dr. Mohan or even Dr. King, you could see the empathy of having been a patient as a human being and also played a patient as an actor would really feed into playing those characters. But as a surgeon, it’s a different story. They're different breeds of people.
Zak: Is there any particular reason why you don't appear for the last three episodes?
Alexandra: Oh, good question. Garcia's doing surgery again. She's doing what she loves and she's where she needs to be. You get Doctor Walsh from the OR who is seeing if spaces are opening up in order for her to allow more patients in. She is handling and making sure the patients are getting what they need, but before they go up to surgery, it is overloaded, as you hear throughout those episodes. There's 25 beds and we're constantly trying to get through these cases in order to make room for new ones. There's so many GSWS, there's so many gunshot wounds downstairs amongst the MTIS that come in, Garcia's up there doing surgery.
Zak: Two key relationships in the show for Garcia is between Santos and Langdon. I feel like there's an inherent chemistry that's built between the three of yous and from Langdon's perspective, there's obviously more time and history there. I imagine from continued teamwork and just time in general. How did you manage to give it that kind of rivalry and history there when we don't really get any of that context. We are just thrown in, but we believe it anyways.
Alexandra: I'm glad to hear that you did. Patrick Ball is an incredible human being and it was really easy to relate to him immediately. I think partly because we got to work together so much, but also upon meeting him, he was such a lovely spirit to spend time with and he's really fun and makes wonderful jokes. He's also such a really present person that it was quite easy to create that history and that sibling rivalry. He does these little things on set. For instance, we'd be doing a rehearsal of a scene right before we're about to do a scene. That entails just saying the lines out loud and if there's specific walking, just making sure we know where we're standing and walking. He'd be like, okay, we're about to shoot the scene and he'd say this time with expressions. You just think like, wow, we're about to go into this really serious surgical moment, trying to save a life and he injects, infuses the room with a little humour right before doing this thing. It's just lovely. So he made that quite easy to create that history with.
As for Santos, we're meeting for the first day and so that is pretty easy to step into. Isa Briones is also equally lovely and you know, our relationship as actors is different than the relationship as characters, but the desire to have conversation as actors and kind of understanding of scenes. It bleeds into the relationship of wanting to have those conversations as the characters as Garcia and Santos and wanting to have understanding, and these dialogues that happen there is there's a similarity in those two things even though they're different relationships.
Zak: Regarding your friendship at work with Santos. It feels like your character sees herself in Santos in a way. We have no idea what Garcia's first day was like, but do you have any idea or could you presume what her first day was like? Would it be quite different. There's a lot of confidence and professionalism there, so it must have come from somewhere.
Alexandra: Yeah I think to your point, she sees a lot of Santos in her and that the gutsiness, the bravado that you need for surgery, she recognises in Santos bravado in the sense that like you got to have that. Bravado can be interpreted differently. I think it can be kind of false. But I think for surgery, you need to have the ‘this is what needs to happen’ and there's no vacillation. In terms of Garcia's first day, I think it probably was super similar. I can imagine Garcia being a little bit more of a listener of a deep, wanting to absorb things and not just making calls on her own in order to prove a point. I think Garcia is a little bit more calculated, but certainly there is a lot of similarity with Santos.
Zak: As Noah Wyle is spearheading the show. How was it like working with him, especially when he's got that experience with ER as well and now The Pitt.
Alexandra: he is the mentor of all mentors. I mean, as the number one on the show, you would hope for someone who sets a tone for the entire set that is welcoming and collaborative and he does that and more. He's obviously got a lot on his plate as the actor with all of the scenes that he's in and all the dialogue that he's handling. So in his downtime, when we would all share the same waiting room as actors, the patient waiting room is what we also use as the actor waiting room. When the room's not being used for filming, sometimes he would sit there and he would have his headphones in and he'd be in actor mode of focusing on whatever the scene was next. Sometimes he'd be really engaging. Actually most times he'd be there joking around or having a serious conversation about craft or life or politics or whatever.
I mean, he's such a lovely, present human being and he loves what he does and it's infectious and he's so down for questions. I didn't want to bombard him with questions, but I did notice one person asked him one time about something and I realised, the door is open, we can approach him with certain things. So I asked him a few questions when I could and for clarification, but also for just like how he as an actor has maintained the ability to handle this kind of role. Given his experience on ER, of course, but that was years ago. At this point, this was 15 years ago. So he's jumping back into the saddle and he in some ways is vulnerable because he has this reputation that perceives him. So he needs to meet the moment and he certainly does that with flying colours, but he's a human being and you're watching him as an actor on set. I'm watching him go through this journey of his own and I I'm constantly learning with the grace that he walks that path. I could keep going on and on. I was so in awe of him and so grateful for his mentorship and the example that he sets.
Zak: Was there any particular advice or meaningful remark that really stuck with you?
Alexandra: So there's some scenes where he is just speaking for pages. Whether it's the MCTI, he's giving you the protocol for what needs to happen, who's going where and what doctors will be in what section, what colours, wristband, all that stuff. I'm like, how are you memorising that with such ease and then approach how are you approaching this? What's your process? You have to keep in mind, it's not like he's had weeks to memorise that. He hasn't had that script for weeks. We each get the script a few days before we're about to shoot. Usually it's a nine day schedule per episode and he is immersed in whatever episode we're shooting. So there's not a lot of time in between and he said quite simply, I memorise. I sit down and I memorise, memorise, memorise beyond what you would think you need. You just keep repeating it, repeating it. He does it with his wife apparently. I would do it with my husband, but I don't want to exhaust my husband. But you find someone who is willing. Luckily, Sara Wyle, also an actress, is with him in this endeavour, helping him to memorise.
So I realised I have to find someone, whether I pay someone or a friend. Who can do this for an hour? Do the scene for an hour if you need to, and you're doing it with nothing on it. You're not acting, you're just neutrally repeating the words. So that is fully ingrained in you. That seems so simple in terms of resource, an approach that’s just kind of like a robotic thing, right? It's not the acting side of things. It's just the thing that you need to do in order to then get to set and act. To that point, Katherine LaNasa, who plays Nurse Dana, I asked her too, what are you doing? Are you taking vitamins? Are you what? What is helping your brain to function at the most optimal level? She had the same answer. She said the exact same thing. You repeat, repeat, repeat beyond what you think you would ever need. She'd hire someone for that. So I actually tapped into that resource and reached the person she hired for one of the scenes where I just wanted to see what it was like to work in that way and I loved it. I can't wait to continue working that way.
Zak: Do you think we can expect Garcia in season 2 or is that something you can't confirm yet?
Alexandra: I actually don't know if I'm allowed to say. But I’m smiling so haha. Say what you will.
Zak: Since The Pitt is the surprise of the year for TV shows at least, the weekly model has helped bring that conversation into the spotlight, with the show also taking the old cable route of annual releases for every season. Is that something that you're really looking forward to as an artist where you can constantly be in that headspace, or do you prefer having long intervals between seasons?
Alexandra: Oh my God, no, this is a blessing. This is what it used to be like, and it allows us as actors to not spend too much time away from our characters and the environments that we get to tell these stories in. It's also such a blessing as an actor, especially in this time where the industry is in a really weird place. To be able to work here in Los Angeles, where I live, to make the commute, it just makes this journey feel like it's a little bit more solidified, even though we never know. The arts are the arts, you know, there’s a rollercoaster ride. But it really allows me personally to settle into the work. And it's a dream come true to be able to tell the story for longer than one episode, let alone just a few.
Zak: If you could choose three of the characters to pair up with to handle a night shift, who would you pick?
Alexandra: I would say from the veterans, I know Robby's had a long day, but I'm gonna want Robby there. Oh, man, I can't choose three. I'm already in my mind going over three. Ellis is phenomenal. I feel real secure having her presence in a room and handling business. From the baby doctors, I think I'd say Whitaker, but I also am now like McKay. They've all got such great qualities and could do some great things in any shift.
Zak: What about your cast mates?
Alexandra: Oh, you can't make me choose. That's too hard. Gosh, I mean, in terms of being around people. Shabana, who plays Javadi, is an absolute delight. She's so funny and a little firecracker. Nurse Dana, Katherine LaNasa is also just whip smart, funny, quirky, cool to observe in a work setting to and learn from. And then. God, sorry to all those I couldn't choose. I want to say Mateo. As not a doctor, I want to include one of the nurses. He is such a sweet young man who is so wise beyond his years and it just creates this really lovely environment on set to work around.
Zak: At the end of the show we see Santos offer to be roommates with Whitaker. Which three characters in the show you think would be an ideal roommate for Garcia and three who would be the worst?
Alexandra: Oh my God. Best roommates. I'm gonna say Robby. I think that we just get along so well and we understand each other. If we disagree, there's still an understanding of I see where you're coming from. Maybe Langdon, because there's that sibling rivalry, but it's all good fun. Lastly, good roommate for Garcia, I think McKay. She’s got a cool past and she is someone who I really respect. Garcia really would respect her. She comes to the job later in life after having a tumultuous past. I think they'd have a good understanding in a lived in environment.
Worst I'm going to say Santos, because there's a lot of friction. There's a lot of tension and even though it's friendly a lot of the time, you don't know where it's headed. So I like my home environment to be one of peace. I don't want any unknowns. So I'm gonna put Santos in that category. Even though I love them and individually they'd be great roommates, I'm gonna say Nurse Perla and Princess, because if I had both of them as roommates, they would be talking shit about me. I wouldn't understand because I don’t speak Tagalog. The last one would be Mohan.
Zak: Oh, wow.
Alexandra: Yeah, because I think she's a loner. I think she needs to live alone. She seems like a lovely person outside of the job though. I think she is very insulated and she needs that in order to recoup from the day. So I don't want to be in her space.
Zak: The fans want to know your opinion on Langdon yelling at Santos.
Alexandra: Oh my God, I think it was wildly inappropriate. I think there's a different way to do that. In terms of Alexandra, I am a fan of efficient communication and efficient in the sense that it can be done in a nicer way. If it can be done in a classier way, if it can be done in a clearer way that's actually gonna lead to education. If there's a lesson to be made, it probably would be done better with honey than acid, vinegar. You want something to go down with honey, not to sugarcoat things, but if the whole point is to allow for this teaching hospital to turn out great doctors in order for patients to have the best care. Then we need to find better ways to communicate and I think you can.
Zak: Whispering is also better than shouting.
Alexandra: Yeah, you can accomplish a lot in a whisper and I can still put you on edge and make someone feel like, okay, I'm in trouble and I need to really be more alert.
Zak: What is Garcia's first impression of Santos and how did you and Isa create the dynamic. What do you hope to see for them later on?
Alexandra: First impression is she's really smart and brave and has some great ideas in terms of patient care, even though some of them are unconventional or she at least, makes a big effort to be a presence, a formidable presence in the space. I'm interested to see how this incredible writing team is gonna pick up the page once we turn into Season 2. In terms of what I would hope for, I think that we can't ignore the fact that we had this connection on day one and also it turned into a mass casualty event that I think a lot of those things will probably be forgiven. Also, who knows how we each change from that event.
I have some ideas personally that I've been kind of mulling about in my own head and heart, but I think it's gonna make people perhaps less petty when it comes to the human interaction. The human relations between employer-employees and more focused on the patient. Of course sometimes Doctors disagree on how to help a patient, so the differences in opinion can look like the clashing of egos. But perhaps we've all come out of this incident with a better way of communicating with one another and helping those who need help.
Zak: A dedicated portion of the fan base see or interpret Garcia as queer. What is your interpretation of her and if there's any attraction towards Santos?
Alexandra: Yeah, I've seen that it's something that people are curious about or certain about one way or another. I have my feelings and theories and I think it was pretty clear. I mean asking someone’s sign in the middle of dealing with a patient, you could be asking in terms of like will you work well in the surgery in the OR upstairs with us? Will we be compatible? But yeah, I think Garcia is definitely queer and probably bisexual.
Zak: Was the attraction to Santos purposeful, from a writing or chemistry perspective? Or was that something that was kind of figured out along the way as the show develops?
Alexandra: Good question. Actually, the scene in which Garcia comes in and she stops Langdon from giving the rundown on this patient and says I want to hear from Santos. That was one of my audition scenes. So that's my second audition scene when I say excellent presentation and I go on after that scene, you see that patient go, oh, you made quite the impression on her. Santos is like, I've only known her for a few hours and he's like, you must have done something right or whatever he says. That preceding scene was my audition and, had the feel of.
I think I'm just realising, actually, in my breakdown of my character, it does say that Garcia is queer. So there’s no question. There's absolutely no question. So that when I had the call back and John Wells saw that scene and I had my fun with it and the flirting, the only thing he said was that was great. Let's do it again. Let's just flirt some more, flirt, turn up the flirting. I said gladly. So yeah, definitely. The answer is yes.
Zak: So what's your opinion on the mini ER/OR rivalry, if there is any, where you see Garcia and Walsh seem to have a a playful beef with the emergency department. Did you come up with any kind of backstory or history to add to the performance or was it just how it flowed.
Alexandra: I think it's just how it flowed. When talking to the medical consultants on set, we have so many people who work in these spaces in real life who have told us this is what it's like. This is how surgeons are, this is what they want. This is how they interact. It's a trope, but it's a trope for a reason. So there wasn't much talking about it beyond what's on the page and knowing that that's true.
Zak: What’s your interpretation of the line, “You're trouble” when you say that to Santos. Garcia doesn't seem to want any part in that drama or controversy, especially when someone who just came onto the scene is already arousing suspicion on one of your trusted workers. Does that raise any concerns about your own security knowing that your co-worker's position who has been trusted and stable for so long is suddenly under risk, and now you could be under the lens too. As you said, Santos is not someone you know, you just met.
Alexandra: Exactly. Yeah I think that definitely puts Garcia on edge and makes her less trustworthy of this person who she's become quite fond of the 12 hours that they've spent together. I think that knowing that there are a lot of doctors in real life who struggle with substance abuse. Whether Garcia knows that Langdon was taking substances from the hospital or not, it is a really tricky, big accusation and I think that it gives Garcia pause. That these relationships could be in jeopardy.
Both the older relationship with Langdon and the possibility of him getting in trouble and losing his expertise in the hospital when Garcia hasn't observed any kind of need to call attention to his lack of efficiency or his ability to give care. None of that has ever arisen so for it to arise now when it's never been an issue from anyone else, no one has. There's never been talk of this from any nurse or any other doctor. So for a brand spanking new doctor to come in with this bravado and this brash approach, it feels like a bull in a China shop and it's worrisome.
Zak: Out of personal preference. Is there anything in particular you would love to explore further for your character if she does return in Season 2?
Alexandra: Oh my God, There's so much to explore and I don't know that I could tell you one thing in particular. I have my trust fully in the writing team, all the medical consultants and Doctor Joe who is the head medical consultant, executive producer and also was the consultant on all 15 seasons of ER. He's got such a wealth of information and storylines that he's lived through as the head of ER at Cedars-Sinai at one point.
I am just so excited to hear more of these stories and get to play in them.
The Pitt is streaming now on Max
Can check my full interview on video here: