It seems a few original characters could be returning to Gaffney Chicago Medical Center next season on Chicago Med!
After making a point to bring back several familiar faces in season 10 with the returns of Mekia Cox and Rachel DiPillo, showrunner Allen MacDonald is looking to bring back even more familiar faces in season 11. In fact, it seems he’s already reached out to a few cast members and is in active conversation with the former stars.
“I can say that yes, we’re going to hopefully have some original cast members come back,” MacDonald teased in speaking with TV Insider about plans for season 11.
Yes, that’s cast members plural, as it seems there are moves being made to bring back a few familiar faces who have since left the show! Elaborating upon his promise to bring back some familiar faces, MacDonald hinted that the intention is to bring back at least one if not two or more original cast members.
“Yes, and they just texted me. I have said before that I’m very much a believer because I am a TV fan — when I was a teenager and I watched the medical show St. Elsewhere, I used to just get so excited when they brought somebody back they hadn’t seen in a long time. And I think there’s a fear in storytelling, television specifically, that if you bring back old characters that you’re kind of going back into the past and not being in the present. But I think life is both. And I think we were successful in telling stories of the present, but I think that in the One Chicago world, it’s completely legitimate to check in on people, characters that we love and we miss, and what fun to see them interact with the new doctors that the audience knows, but they don’t. And so yes, I intend to at least bring back one if not two or more original cast members [from the series premiere] in the next season.”
While MacDonald would not reveal who exactly the creative team is working to bring back, the use of the “original cast members” seems to narrow down the field and suggests we could be seeing the returns of characters who were a part of the original season 1 cast. Heading into season 11, there are only three original series regulars still on the show: S. Epatha Merkerson (Goodwin), Oliver Platt (Charles), and Marlyne Barrett (Maggie).
Given DiPillo just returned as Dr. Reese in season 10, it seems we can rule her out as one of the actors MacDonald is looking to bring back. This would leave us with five key original cast members who could be in contention to return in season 11: Nick Gehlfuss (Will Halstead), Yaya DaCosta (April Sexton), Torrey DeVitto (Natalie Manning), Brian Tee (Ethan Choi), and Colin Donnell (Connor Rhodes).
Yes, there is always a chance he could be referring to lesser-known original characters from the show's first season such as Nina Shore (Patti Murin), Dr. Vicki Glass (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), Dr. Sam Zanetti (Julie Berman), or Dr. David Downey (Gregg Henry), but those aren't exactly the type of returns we'd imagine McDonald would hype up as he did.
Honestly, it would be amazing to see anyone in that core group back on the show. Each of these actors brought so much to the show, and it’s been far too long since we’ve seen these incredible characters on the show. The idea of seeing Will, April, Natalie, Ethan, or Connor return is so exciting, and we love MacDonald’s approach in bringing back familiar faces, even if just for guest arcs on the show. This is something Grey’s Anatomy has done well over the years, and we’re so excited to see that Chicago Med’s new leadership is not afraid to embrace the show’s past!
Chicago Med season 11 will premiere this fall on NBC.