What happened to Dr. Reese on Chicago Med: Here's what you need to remember about her exit

Chicago Med has seen many actors come and go over the years, but fans often forget that the first major exit the show underwent came in season 4 with the departure of Rachel DiPillo. After three seasons as a series regular playing the role of med student turned psych resident, Dr. Sarah Reese, DiPillo was quickly written off the show in the season 4 premiere. 

Following her exit, Chicago Med’s showrunner at the time, Andrew Schneider, told One Chicago Center that the door remained open for Reese to return down the line promising that “if we can find a good way to bring her back later, we’ll entertain that.” Sadly, it seems they weren’t able to find a good way to bring her back as Dr. Reese was never seen again on the show following her abrupt exit. 

Fans had all but given up hope that we’d get to see Dr. Reese return, which is why we were all so shocked when the promo for the Chicago Med season 10 fall finale revealed that DiPillo was about to make a return to Gaffney Chicago Medical Center over six years after her exit from the show.

While time heals all wounds, it seems that Dr. Reese is still harboring some resentment towards Dr. Charles which might have some fans wondering what exactly happened between the characters back in the day. Well, it’s complicated. 

Why did Dr. Reese leave Chicago Med?

As fans will recall, Dr. Daniel Charles served as Dr. Reese’s mentor during the early seasons of Chicago Med with the pair sharing a strong connection with Dr. Charles helping to guide Dr. Reese and help her grow as a doctor working in the world of psychiatry. 

The pair’s dynamic shifted when Dr. Reese’s estranged father, Robert Haywood, reentered the picture and came to Chicago Med where he became one of Dr. Charles’ patients. After running some tests, Dr. Charles discovered that Robert had antisocial personality disorder and Robert would confess to Dr. Charles that he only came to Med so that his daughter could take care of him while he was sick and leverage her connections to get treatment – not to actually start anew. 

Upon digging into things further, Dr. Charles eventually discovered that Robert was hiding an even darker secret: Robert was a serial killer responsible for the murders of several women. Due to HIPAA guidelines, Dr. Charles was unable to tell Dr. Reese about her father though he attempted to warn her to be cautious which prompted Robert to create false claims that Dr. Charles was blackmailing him. 

Things came to a head in the season finale when Robert’s heart began failing while he was having a conversation with Dr. Charles. Rather than racing right into action, Dr. Charles froze as if contemplating letting Robert die which was when Dr. Reese walked in and found Dr. Charles kneeling over her father’s fallen body. 

In the season 4 premiere, we jumped ahead a bit in time and found Dr. Reese turning over evidence located at her father’s storage unit to help the police bring him to justice for his actions. Despite his best intentions, Dr. Charles’ betrayal was too much for Dr. Reese to overlook as she couldn’t see past his decision not to tell her the truth about Robert. 

Seeing no way to continue to work under him, Dr. Reese decided to leave Med behind in order to take a residency position at Baylor and she never looked back after taking the position.

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