Trinity Santos is a fictional character from the HBO Max medical procedural drama series The Pitt, portrayed by American actor Isa Briones. She was introduced in "", the show's pilot episode.
In the show's season 1, Santos is an intern. In season 2, she is a second-year resident.
Santos is fluent in Tagalog. She was formerly a athlete/gymnast, which Briones says is "where her competitiveness really comes from".
In episode 15 of season 1, it is revealed that, as a child, Santos and her friend were taken advantage of by someone older, with her friend eventually committing suicide. In season 2, episode "", when Santos goes to the bathroom, it is revealed that she has self-harm scars along her thigh. Later in the season, she takes a scalpel and puts it in her pocket, with AOL saying that it was "a shot of Santos contemplating cutting herself again".
During season 1, Santos is characterized as being "brash" and "annoying". She nicknames her colleagues; Dennis Whitaker with "Huckleberry", especially after discovering his previous home at a farm, and Victoria Javadi with "Crash", after Javadi had fainted. Also in the first season, she frequently does procedures without approval by a superior, usually with them scolding her after.
Later in season 1, Santos finds irregularities with medication handled by her resident, Dr. Frank Langdon. She voices her concerns with charge nurse Dana Evans, and Langdon's friend and surgical physician Yolanda Garcia, to no avail. Finally, she tells Robby, the attending physician, to which he eventually finds out that Langdon had been stealing benzodiazepines from the hospital. He forces Langdon to leave.
In season 2, Langdon tries to talk with Santos, but both end up arguing. Santos expresses worry that Langdon will relapse to Robby, for which Robby asks her not to let old conflicts get in her way.
In the end of the season, Santos finds Whitaker in one of the empty rooms in an unused wing in the hospital. She finds out that he is homeless, and offers for him to live with her for free. In season 2, 10 months after, they continue to be roommates.
Later, they both talk, with Santos saying how she feels with Robby leaving on his sabbatical, how Langdon is and was, that she felt Garcia was using her as a "stress toy", and vaguely about Whitaker moving out. Whitaker figures it out and says he will not move out and stay in their apartment if Santos confesses that she likes being roommates with him, playfully, to which she does not accept.
In "", Santos tells Robby that Whitaker has been frequently visiting the widow of a dead patient from the last season. Santos worries that the widow is using him.
In season 1, before a chest tube that Garcia was about to allow her to perform, Santos drops a scalpel on Garcia's foot. In season 2, Garcia makes a joke that Whitaker likes to take other people's toothbrushes, implying she visits their house often enough to have a toothbrush there.
When Santos asks Garcia again if they will watch the fireworks together after work, Garcia restates to Santos that they are "keeping it casual". Furthermore, in episode 10, Santos complains about Langdon to Garcia. Garcia retorts back, saying that, with Santos, she is okay with "sex and eating ramen in bed" but that Santos should get a therapist if she wants to talk about Langdon.
Throughout the start of season 2, Baran Al-Hashimi, the new attending, warns Santos about being behind on her medical charting, even saying that Santos might have to repeat her second year of residency. Repeatedly, Santos mentions that she will have to stay overtime.
In episode 7 of season 2, when a baby in the ER keeps crying while Santos is charting, she gets up and eventually sings "Ili-Ili, Tulog Anay", a traditional Hiligaynon lullaby, to calm the baby. People magazine says that this let viewers "see a different side of [Santos]".
Briones's casting as Santos was announced on July 12, 2024 alongside the announcement of eight other cast members.
After getting cast, Briones advocated for a change in her character's name to represent her Filipino heritage, reflecting the strong Filipino representation in the medical industry. Santos delivers a line in Tagalog to two gossiping Filipino nurses in season 1, episode "", confirming their suspicions that she actually is Filipino.
Briones said that Santos wants to protect her vulnerable patients, and that "[t]here's a maternal and big sister type of energy that comes out when she is taking care of younger patients".
HBO Max described her as "tough as nails with no filter", also saying that her "competitive streak hasn't gone away â she just channels it into her work".
In an interview with Vulture, talking about Langdon and Santos's relationship in season 1, Briones said "They're so combative because they recognize in each other what they have in themselves, and that's threatening to the both of them".
Vulture also said about episode 12 in season 2 that "The slow burn of Santos getting repeatedly plowed over with stress and emotion has led her to contemplate self-harm again".
With Langdon coming back in season 2 after going to rehab, Briones said that it was a major trigger for Santos. She said that "the reintroduction of Langdon reignited a lot of the anxieties around the feeling of not belonging. And with Robby leaving [on his sabbatical], she's losing that safe space".
Filmspeak said that Whitaker's relationship to Santos was like a "surrogate brother".
Briones won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series at the 32nd Actor Awards alongside the rest of the cast.
Vogue described her in season 1 as "the cocky, competitive new intern, brash to the point of abrasion", but also saying that "[Santos] is also protecting something deep inside herself, evident in the way she is especially attuned to victims of abuse".
Yahoo said that Santos was "Overly ambitious, unnecessarily competitive, ungovernable, and conceited" but nevertheless "on the top of [their] collective hit list".