The estate of “ER” creator Michael Crichton has filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. over the upcoming hospital drama “The Pitt.”

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Legacy Michael CrichtonAngela Murphy, who wrote the pilot for “ER,” has filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. Television over an upcoming medical drama she says is an edited version of an unauthorized remake.

After Crichton’s legacy, led by His widow SherryWarner Bros. was unable to reach an agreement with the television studio to produce a new version of the popular medical procedure, and the lawsuit alleges that Warner Bros. proceeded to develop and produce a series based on the same idea without approval.

The upcoming series, titled “The Pitt,” will be a medical drama set in Pittsburgh, as opposed to the Chicago setting of “ER,” and will star Noah Wyle. Wyle is best known for his portrayal of John Carter on “ER” in more than 250 episodes.

“The Pitt” is also set to feature several “ER” alumni behind the scenes, including John Wells as executive producer and R. Scott Gemmell as showrunner. Wells, Wells and Gemmell are all defendants in the lawsuit.

“The lawsuit filed by the Crichton Estate is without merit,” the studio said in a statement. “The Pitt is a new and original show. Any suggestion otherwise is false, and Warner Bros. Television intends to vigorously defend against these baseless claims.”

Because of Crichton’s success with projects such as Jurassic Park and Westworld prior to developing ER, he had a “freeze rights” clause in his contract for the series. This clause prohibits Warner Bros. from proceeding with any sequel, remake, spin-off or other production derived from ER without Crichton’s approval, or the approval of his estate after his death from cancer in 2008.

“If Warner Bros. can do this to Michael Crichton, one of the most successful creators in the industry who has made the studio billions of dollars during their partnership, no creator is safe,” a spokesperson for Sherry Crichton said in a statement to The Associated Press. “While litigation is never the preferred course of action, contracts must be enforced, and Michael Crichton’s legacy must be protected.”

The group, which filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, is asking a judge to issue an injunction that would force the studio to halt production on the new series, and is also seeking punitive and compensatory damages.

Warner Bros. began developing a new version of “ER” for HBO Max’s streaming service in 2020 without Sherry’s knowledge, according to the lawsuit.

In 2022, when Sherry Crichton was informed of the development project, she and the estate entered into negotiations with the studio, in which she says she was promised that Crichton would receive “creational” credit, backed by a $5 million guarantee to the estate in the event that credit was not given. Ultimately, the term was dropped and negotiations stalled, which the lawsuit says should have halted all development of the series.

Development continued and The Pitt was announced in March. A release date has not yet been announced.

“Pitt is ER,” lawyers representing Crichton’s estate wrote in the lawsuit. “It’s not ER, it’s not a kind of ER, it’s ER, complete with the same executive producer, writer, star, production companies, studio and network as the planned ER reboot.”

The lawsuit also alleges that Warner Bros. previously tried to “erase” Crichton from derivatives of his work by downgrading his credit on the 2016 miniseries based on his film “Westworld” from “created by” to “based on,” which they say began a “disturbing pattern.”