It seems Chicago Fire and Chicago PD won’t be the only One Chicago shows saying goodbye to a core member of their cast at the top of the season.
Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut has confirmed she will not be returning for Chicago Med’s upcoming twelfth season. Chestnut confirmed her departure from the show via a conversation with a fan on TikTok in the comments of a recently shared video. When asked whether she would be returning as Dr. Naomi Howard in season 12, Chestnut revealed that she would not be returning to the show.
Chestnut did not further elaborate on the circumstances of her exit from the show, and NBC has not released any statement addressing her departure; however, given her confirmation that she will not return for season 12, it seems that her exit will take place off-screen. What is interesting is that there was no hint that Chestnut would not return in season 12. In fact, it seemed as though season 12 would further explore her budding relationship with Frost.
Sadly, that will not be the case, which does align with recent comments made by showrunner Allen MacDonald.
In a recent interview, MacDonald avoided directly discussing Naomi when asked about what was to come in season 12 for Frost and Naomi. He then proceeded to suggest that Frost would face a bump in the road when it came to his love life. It now seems that bump will be Naomi’s sudden exit from Gaffney Chicago Medical Center.
“Frost is in a very complicated place in his romantic life. There’s been a bump, I’ll say that," MacDonald told Give Me My Remote.
Chestnut's involvement in season 12 came under question earlier this week when she failed to be included in the promotional poster for Chicago Med's new season. This decision came on the heels of Jessy Schram sharing a set video, which featured director chairs marked with the names of several returning cast members. Interestingly, Chestnut's name was not among the nearly a dozen chairs on set, which included the names of several core members of the cast as well as various core members of the ensemble.
Given that Chestnut will not be returning for season 12 and her exit will take place off-camera, fans aren't expected to get a proper sendoff for the character. What is likely to occur is that Naomi’s exit will be addressed quickly via a conversation between characters to help provide viewers with an explanation as to what happened to the character.
What is interesting is that the show introduced an exit storyline for Chestnut at the end of season 10 when she chose to leave Gaffney in order to get a fresh start. Fans thought they'd seen the last of Naomi as a result of this storyline, only for the creative team to surprise fans by bringing her back at the beginning of season 11.
Chestnut is the latest in a growing list of exits confirmed for the upcoming seasons of the One Chicago franchise and the first major exit for Chicago Med. In addition to Chestnut, the One Chicago franchise will say goodbye to LaRoyce Hawkins, Dermot Mulroney, and Joe Minoso in what is shaping up to be one of the most tumultuous offseasons in recent years for the franchise.
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