Clive Owen’s Easy-To-Binge 2-Season Medical Sleeper Hit Kicks ‘The Pitt’ to the Curb

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The Pitt has finally fallen off the streaming charts after a successful first season that proved there was a demand for prestige medical dramas. Now, another doc drama has climbed into HBO Max’s top ten: The Knick, a 1900s-set two-season series that was a hit with critics but struggled to find viewers during its original run. With only two seasons and twenty episodes, the series is an easy binge-watch. But be warned: the show’s scenes of archaic surgical techniques are not for the squeamish.

The Knick is set in a fictionalized version of the Knickerbocker Hospital (nicknamed “The Knick”), a hospital in turn-of-the-century New York City that primarily treated the poor and disadvantaged. It was created by Jack Amiel and Michael Begler, the writing-producing duo who recently made the second season of HBO’s Perry Mason. Steven Soderbergh directed all twenty episodes of the series, in addition to executive producing. The series premiered on Showtime in 2014 to great acclaim, and currently holds a 92% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. After its second season ended, the show remained in limbo for some time before being officially cancelled in 2017.

Who Stars in ‘The Knick’?

Clive Owen plays Dr. John “Thack” Thackery, chief surgeon for the Knick; he’s constantly seeking out new and innovative surgical techniques, even as he struggles with a harrowing substance abuse problem. Also on staff is Dr. Algernon Edwards (André Holland), a newcomer to the hospital; an eminently qualified doctor, he is the frequent target of racial prejudice. The Knick is managed by Herman Barrow (Jeremy Bobb), who manages to keep the hospital afloat despite ruinous financial problems of his own. Other staffers include Cornelia Robertson (Juliet Rylance), head of the social welfare office; surgeons Bertie Chickering, Jr. (Michael Angarano) and Everett Gallinger (Eric Johnson); nurse Lucy Elkins (Eve Hewson); ambulance driver Tom Cleary (Chris Sullivan); and Sister Harriet (Cara Seymour), the nun who manages the orphanage affiliated with the Knick.

The second-season finale ends with the apparent death of Thack after he attempted to operate on his own bowels, damaged by years of drug abuse. Soderbergh insisted that this was planned, and that the series was to continue with a new lead, only for the show to be officially cancelled in 2017. However, in a 2024 interview, Holland said that a revival of the series, to be set twenty years later during the Harlem Renaissance, was in the works.

The Knick is now streaming on HBO Max. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.