One of the biggest changes Chicago Med season 11 has brought about has been the departure of original star Marlyne Barrett. Barrett originated the role of Maggie Lockwood in the show’s first season, and has been a crucial part of the show across the seasons.
Heading into the season, it was expected that Maggie would be back; however, word broke weeks before the premiere that Barrett was stepping away from the show for personal reasons.
The creative team behind the show has been respectful of Barrett’s privacy, as should be the case, and opted not to share any specifics about the cause for her exit. What they have made clear is that the door has very much been left open for Barrett to return, meaning we haven’t seen the last of Maggie on Chicago Med.
We don’t yet know when Maggie will be back on Chicago Med
Due to the nature of Marlyne Barrett’s exit from the show, there is no exact timeline in place for when she will return to Chicago Med. In fact, not even those close to the show know when exactly Barrett will return.
"It is currently unclear,” Chicago Med showrunner Allen MacDonald told People when asked when Maggie might return. “Marlyne approached us and said that she needed to take some personal time, and we of course love her and support her in doing that. And from a storytelling standpoint, I would love to have her back."
Given there has been no update on Barrett’s return as of the end of October, it’s unlikely that we’re going to see Maggie appear in the first half of the season. In fact, we’re almost betting on the fact that any appearance from Maggie will come in the later part of season 11.
While we’re not likely to see Maggie back on-screen until the second part of the season, our hope is that the show will continue to provide us with the occasional update on Maggie’s whereabouts – though the show has been a bit stingy with updates so far.
The Chicago Med season 11 premiere established Maggie has left, but kept things vague
Heading into the season premiere, it was known that Maggie would not appear in the episode and it was expected that we would get an update on her character in the premiere. This was indeed the case, though the episode failed to give us too much information regarding where Maggie has gone.
In the season premiere, Dr. Charles asks Goodwin if she had “talked to Maggie since she left,” in a moment designed to inform audiences that Maggie had left the hospital. Rather than giving us much of an update, Goodwin simply replied that she hadn’t heard a peep. From there the conversation moves along, with the conversation failing to give us specifics as to why Maggie left the hospital or when she left. The only thing that is established is that she did leave the hospital.
Later in the premiere, Goodwin offers up words of praise to Doris, who has taken over Maggie’s duties in overseeing the ED.
“You know, Maggie has some big shoes to fill, and she’d be proud of you,” Goodwin says, to which Doris then replies, “Just keeping them warm until she comes back.”
It was another moment that reaffirmed that Maggie had left, but also made it clear the hope is that she will be returning sometime in the future.
Outside of those direct mentions in the premiere, Chicago Med has avoided discussing Maggie with additional updates, but we’re hoping they’ll give us a few additional nuggets of information in the weeks ahead!