Chicago Med star Sarah Ramos unpacks Lenox’s antagonist role, teases backstory, Halloween episode and more!

Change has been in the air once again at Gaffney Chicago Medical Center this season on Chicago Med, with a pair of fresh new faces entering the mix and quickly shaking things up.

Among this season’s new additions has been Dr. Cailtin Lenox, played by the brilliant Sarah Ramos, who is brought in by Goodwin to help oversee the hospital’s Emergency Department alongside Dr. Dean Archer (Steven Weber), who’s not exactly been thrilled with Lenox’s arrival. 

Throughout the first three episodes of season 10, Lenox has quickly emerged as a central antagonist for the season and fans have been understandably slow to warm up to the newest addition to the series. It’s understandable that fans haven’t exactly taken to her as quickly as they have fellow newcomer Dr. John Frost (Darren Barnet), as Lenox’s arrival has ruffled some feathers… but as Ramos revealed in our sit down ahead of the show’s fourth episode, that was always the point!

One Chicago Center: We’ve only just met Dr. Caitlin Lenox but she’s ruffled a lot of feathers already, so I’d love to start by asking what has it been like for you coming into such an established show and playing a character who has been very much at conflict with so many characters?  

It's been an adventure. I came in with Allen MacDonald, the new showrunner, and they definitely pitched me like you're coming in to be a bit of the antagonist of the season, which I was like, ok, that's gonna be super fun. And it has been super fun, but it's also been kind of funny to me.

Obviously, I come in seeing Lenox's point of view where all she's doing is asking questions and trying to get things out in the open and asserting her point of view, and people's feathers are getting all ruffled about it. You know, I think from my perspective I'm like, “Damn, do we really have to go there?”

I don't think Lennox has done anything out of line really. I think people just don't like her tone, which is professional. Even though she may be addressing uncomfortable topics, she's never come out and been like, “What are you doing here? You don't belong here,” except when she fired Dr. Hudgins who arguably didn't belong there.

One Chicago Center: She's been put in an almost impossible situation of being tasked with this very hard job at the hospital and being brought in to make a change.

It is an impossible situation. I appreciate you putting it that way. And I guess my question to fans is like, ok, how, how should she come in?

I like to joke about that it's like, “Oh, you know what? You're right, let's make this scene 10 minutes longer, and let me spend it by every time I ask a question asking follow-ups about how are you feeling about that question doctor? Are you ok? Are your feelings hurt?"

Don’t be mad at me fans, I love the characters [and Lenox is] just giving you some tough love. 

One Chicago Center: Of course, one character that Lenox has been particularly at odds with, understandably, is Archer who she's having to co-run the E.D. with. What has it been like getting to play off of Steven Weber and what can you tease about how their dynamic is going to continue to evolve as the season progresses?

You know, I think that Lenox and Archer could be such a great team if they could learn to work together. And I think we're gonna continue to wonder if they can learn to work together.

I think that Steven Weber is such a great actor because to me, like I'm reading the stuff that Archer does and I'm like, if Lenox did this, she would really be fired. [Things like] rolling her eyes, doing these smart alec quips back at him like that would be not accepted from a woman my age or a woman in general. So the fact that he does it not only with impunity but he's like beloved for it, I think that's a testament to his skill and charm as an actor. 

One Chicago Center: Are there any surprising alliances or relationships that Lenox develops with other characters as the season progresses which you can tease? 

You're gonna get to see a lot about Lenox and [learn] a lot about Lenox's backstory, and that there's more than meets the eye for this character. So there's a lot that I won't spoil that's gonna be developed there.

And you definitely get to see Lenox working with the other doctors, specifically with Hannah and Maggie. Hannah and Maggie have this tight bond and Lenox is their boss, but they're also these three unique women in the workplace and I think they have some fun stuff coming up.

One Chicago Center: Well, speaking of her background, will we get to learn a little bit more about her backstory, particularly regarding her military ties?

I hope so. So far in what we filmed, I haven't seen a ton of delving into the army background, but I think you kind of get a lot of that from just the way that she operates in the hospital. She is very regimented. She needed that structure. And I guess the question is where does that need for structure come from?

One Chicago Center: Can you tease any of the new challenges Lenox is gonna face in the episodes ahead? 

Oh my gosh, there's like a new challenge every damn day at the hospital and that seems to be how it goes in real hospitals. I mean, there are new challenging medical cases where there are more of them meet the eye. Archer certainly doesn't seem to be making things easier for Lenox and then she's got her personal life that we're gonna slowly learn a little bit more about. From what I've heard from what the writers have teased for me, things are not gonna get easier for Lenox.

One Chicago Center: We know there's the Halloween episode coming up in episode five and Halloween is going to create some chaos in the E D., can you tease a little bit of what we can maybe expect from that episode?

I love the Halloween episode. It was like a little bit of a different pace. There's some humor happening there with the patients coming in and the circumstances they're coming in under.  I'll just tell you [Lenox] doesn't dress up for Halloween. Ok. She's not dressing up for Halloween, but you know, I get it, it's not like she's been welcomed with open arms and she's gonna let down her hair and dress up as a Golden Girl for Halloween. It's not a safe place for her right now and she's got her cards closer to the vest.

One Chicago Center: I feel like that makes sense. I mean, it would kind of be almost out of character for Lenox to suddenly show up and be like full Halloween out of the blue.

I mean, as Lenox says, Halloween can be one of the busiest nights of the year. So she expects the fullest highest level of decorum. Is she gonna get it? You tell me.

One Chicago Center: As we kind of bring things to a close, are there any moments or storylines coming up that you're really excited for the fans to see, or anything in particular you're looking forward to exploring just within the character as the season continues?

I'm really excited to see the background of Lenox and learn more about why she is the way she is. It'll have them rethinking some of the snap judgments they've made about her.

And I also just love that you'll see like when something kind of good happens, Lenox doesn't really know how to handle it or process it.

Don’t miss new episodes of Chicago Med Wednesdays at 8/7c on NBC and streaming on Peacock!