We’re officially less than a month away from the premiere of Chicago Med season 12 and NBC has gradually been ramping up its promotional efforts to get fans excited for the new season. We’ve seen the rollout of the first promo for the One Chicago shows' returns, gotten to see the shows featured predominantly in the new NBC 100 promo, and most recently have gotten our first new posters for the upcoming seasons of Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, and Chicago PD!
The new posters for the seasons have been particularly interesting and given fans a lot to talk about; this includes the poster for Chicago Med, which just so happens to exclude a key member of the show’s ensemble, leading us to wonder what that might mean for the role the character will play in season 12.
As expected,and should be the case, up front and center in the new poster for Chicago Med season 12 are the show’s two remaining original cast members: S. Epatha Merkerson (Goodwin) and Oliver Platt (Charles). The poster is then rounded out with several other key members of the season 12 cast, with Steven Weber (Archer), Jessy Schram (Asher), Luke Mitchell (Ripley), Sarah Ramos (Lenox), and Darren Barnet (Frost) all featured on the poster. Notably absent from the poster is Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut (Dr. Naomi Howard), who continues to get overlooked in the promotional materials for the show.
The heroes of Chicago return. One Chicago premieres October 7 on @NBC and next day on Peacock pic.twitter.com/HYg17LJVbc
— One Chicago (@NBCOneChicago) September 3, 2026
Fans have been on quite a rollercoaster ride with Naomi since her time on the show began late in season 9. After a recurring arc in season 9, we saw Naomi featured more prominently in season 10 as Lenox took her under her wing as a mentee throughout the season. As season 10 drew to a close, it looked like Naomi was leaving the show, as she informed Lenox that she was stepping away from Gaffney to get a fresh start after being sexually harassed by a prominent cardiothoracic surgeon.
Thankfully, the show found a way to bring Naomi back for season 11, though her return was short-lived, as Naomi only appeared in two additional episodes in the first half of the season following her return in the premiere. Once we hit the halfway point of the season, though, Naomi took a much larger role, appearing in all but one episode after her return in episode 12. Seeing Naomi featured more consistently in the back half of the season left fans hopeful that she would continue to have a bigger role in the show’s twelfth season, but now we’re not so certain.
Not only was Chestnut not featured alongside her costars on the season 12 poster, but Chicago Med showrunner Allen MacDonald seemed to hint that her relationship with Frost is going to hit a bump in the road as well. In fact, when asked about the relationship, MacDonald kept the focus on Frost telling Give Me My Remote, “Frost is in a very complicated place in his romantic life. There’s been a bump, I’ll say that.”
Could the bump be that Naomi has left Gaffney?
It seems odd that he didn’t directly mention Naomi, and it’s also interesting that we haven’t seen Chestnut on set in any behind-the-scenes footage—that includes a behind-the-scenes video Schram posted to her Instagram Stories, which showed director chairs with the names of all the actors on the poster as well as several chairs for the actresses who play the various nurses on the show. Chestnut’s name not being included on one of the chairs wasn’t concerning at the time, but given that she has not been featured in any promotional materials and MacDonald’s indication that Frost’s romantic life has hit a bump, we have to wonder if perhaps Howard has exited the show quietly.
Hopefully, that will not be the case, and we’ll get confirmation of her return soon, but for now, we’re certainly growing concerned that Naomi might not be back when Chicago Med season 12 premieres on October 7 on NBC.
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