Everything Nick Gehlfuss has said about possibly returning to Chicago Med

Nick Gehlfuss is part of the mass exodus of Chicago Med actors who have left the show in recent years. The actor decided to step away from the medical drama in the season 8 finale. His character, Dr. Will Halstead, picked up and moved to Seattle to start a new life with Natalie Manning (Torrey DeVitto).

It was about as perfect a sendoff as one could hope for, especially given the rocky personal and professional events that Halstead had to contend with before he left. As with every long-running show, though, the desire to see the character return has increased with time.

Nick Gehlfuss has talked to Med writers about returning

Gehlfuss, who told Variety that he felt he'd pushed the character of Halstead as far as he could, has maintained that he's open to returning to Chicago Med down the line. "We were all in agreement on that, thankfully, as I talked with Dick [Wolf] and the writers," he explained.

The only thing that Gehlfuss listed as a necessity was that Med writers concoct a logical reason to bring Dr. Halstead back into the mix. The actor doesn't want to come back just for the sake of cheap fan service:

"Whenever it makes sense again for important moments, I’d love to don the white lab coat once again."

The actor wants to preserve Halstead's happy ending

This makes sense, given how protective the actor has been over Halstead's arc in the past. He was always vocal about where he wanted the character to go, and where he'd prefer to see him end up, especially with regards to his romance with Manning.

During a 2021 interview with Hello Magazine, Nick Gehlfuss talked about the Halstead and Manning relationship, and inadvertently gave his opinion on characters returning to Med after they've already been written off. "You can’t avoid all that history so the writers," he noted. "Well, you never know what may happen in the future, if a character is not dead they can return in some form."

He's not wrong. We could easily see a world in which Halstead returns for a cameo, but it sounds like both Nick Gehlfuss and the Med creative team want to preserve the character's happy ending. It's a tough needle to thread, but it's ultimately a crucial one.