The internet can be a strange place.
Toxic fandom is a real thing, and if fans love (or hate) the trajectory of a show’s central characters, social media will spread the most baseless rumors. One of those rumors has been flying around since Season 2 of HBO Max’s medical drama “The Pit” returned in January, with unsubstantiated claims that star and executive producer Noah Wyle had a behind-the-scenes feud with new cast member Dr. Sepideh Moafi, who plays Dr. Baran Al Hashimi, the attending physician who arrives as Dr. Robbie’s interim replacement ahead of his sabbatical. Fan fiction theory held that Dr. Al Hashimi’s arc was a form of retribution for the supposed off-screen rift.
Moafi appeared on the variety show via Zoom from his New York City apartment and ended it without hesitation.
“Absolutely not,” she says. “I don’t have that kind of power. We’re really great colleagues. Noah and I have always had a great working relationship. That’s why we actually felt safe doing the darker, dirtier work in Episode 15, especially when we were in between set-ups. So it’s completely false that there’s some sort of personal feud or rivalry between us, you can ask Noah to confirm that, but I don’t know about it.
Nevertheless, this point is important because Moafi has confirmed that he will be back for more emergency room chaos and for season 3, which is currently being written and is expected to begin filming later this summer. However, how much she’ll be featured or how big her arc will be is still up in the air.
“At this point, I am. I don’t know how capable I am,” she said with a laugh. “I think I’m positive. Nothing is clear about what’s going on in the story, how many episodes it’s going to be, and everything else, but I’ll be back.”
The news comes at the forefront of what is shaping up to be a breakout year for Moafi. “The Pit” is an undisputed hit, winning five Emmy Awards for its first season, including Outstanding Drama Series, and winning trophies for Best Actor for Wiley, Best Supporting Actress for Katherine LaNasa and Guest Actor Sean Hatosy for casting. The film, which is in its second year, was well received by critics and enters the current television awards season as a frontrunner. If it wins, it will become the fifth drama to win the top Emmy in both its first seasons, joining “Hill Street Blues,” “Picket Fences,” “The West Wing” and “Mad Men.” If Moafi is nominated in the supporting actress category, she will become the first Persian actress and the first Middle Eastern actor to be recognized overall in this category.
HBO Max
When you ask what that recognition means, the name Toni Morrison comes to mind.
“As Toni Morrison would say, this is not a candy-candy game,” Moafi says. “This isn’t about me. I get it, and look how great I am. For me, it’s what to show the next generation, what to show the girls in Iran, what to show the girls in Afghanistan, what to show the girls in the United States. As we can see, we’re here, we’re unstoppable, and we’re damn good.”
“We want people to know that we exist, that we’re here, and in this case, the DNA of America. What it means to be American is to look like me and to look like you. It’s not a monolith.”
Moafi was born in a refugee camp in West Germany after his parents fled Iran after the Islamic Revolution and immigrated to the United States as a child. The Iranian-American actress has long brought a quiet ferocity to her work, in series such as David Simon’s The Deuce. Still, Dr. Al Hashimi does her part to bring her into the award conversation.
This character’s storyline will be revealed later in season two. It was revealed that Dr. Al Hashimi had been living with a chronic seizure disorder, or focal disordered seizures, since contracting viral meningitis at the age of five. During high pressure shifts, her seizures appear subtly. She would suddenly “zone out” and stop talking or stare blankly, a behavior that most co-workers read as her being thoughtful and focused. In the season 2 finale, she reveals her medical history to Dr. Robbie. After he begins to piece together what’s going on, she shows him the chart. Robbie urges her to formally report her symptoms to the hospital. She revealed that she already has a medical plan in place.
According to Moafi, that arc is the one she most wanted to fight for.
“People with disabilities and health conditions are not disposable, and we want to make that clear,” she says. “They’re not disposable. The idea that you’re gone because you did this is incredibly cruel.”
Sepideh Moafi
Richard Knapp
Moafi was a stoic and charming counterweight to Wiley’s reactive Dr. Robbie throughout the season, especially notable in a scene where Robbie appears to shame Dr. Mohan for having a panic attack. That calmness comes from somewhere. Moafi originally trained as an opera singer, but cried when his mother told him he was switching from music to acting.
“She started crying and was like, ‘No, but your voice is,'” Moafi recalled. “But she also said, ‘Don’t take your shirt off.’
She has always marched to the beat of her own drum. Moafi said she faced persistent bullying in elementary school, but that didn’t stop her from doing things people thought she couldn’t do, like joining her middle school wrestling team.
“I remember going to try out wrestling and the coach was like, ‘Volleyball is in another gym.’ And I was like, ‘Okay.’ And he was like, ‘Okay, okay,’” she says. “I was the only girl on the team, so I decided to make it co-ed.”
She also became an unexpected internet favorite. One meme circulating on social media positions Dr. Al Hashimi’s curly hair as the medical drama’s answer to Jennifer Aniston’s character Rachel Green on Friends, a nod to the ’90s sitcom hair phenomenon. Moafi is delighted with the comparison.
“Oh my gosh, I didn’t know that. I’m obsessed and I’m so honored because I grew up watching ‘Friends’ and it was all about Rachel Green’s hair,” she says. “Throughout my career, when I’ve had my hair curly, how many people have said to me, ‘Oh my god, you inspired me to have my hair curly?’ It’s funny to me that we feel ashamed and hesitant, because we’ve been taught that this is what beauty looks like.”
Moafi will next be seen co-starring Separation actor Shahab Hosseini in the Persian-Iranian film Wild Berries, scheduled for release in May 2023. “I’m a fan of Shahab Hosseini,” Moafi says. “This is an Iranian film by an Iranian film director.”
The script, written and directed by Soudabeh Moradian (Polaris, Doomsday Machine), is based on the playwright Nagme Samini’s (Mainline, Three Women) book, Language of Wild Berries.
But the political moment weighs heavily on her. With war raging in Iran and an Emmy nomination within reach, Moafi says he feels something akin to survivor’s guilt. She answers with seven words that draw on her mother’s wisdom.
“Don’t ask me why, just say thank you.”
