Chicago Med
Chicago Med is an American medical drama television series created by Dick Wolf and Matt Olmstead, and is the third installment of Wolf's Chicago franchise. The series premiered on NBC on November 17, 2015. Chicago Med follows the emergency department doctors and nurses of the fictional Gaffney Chicago Medical Center.
On February 26, 2019, NBC renewed the series for a fifth season, which premiered on September 25, 2019.
On February 27, 2020, NBC renewed the series for a sixth, seventh and eighth season.
Premise
Set in Chicago, Chicago Med is the third series in Dick Wolf's Chicago franchise. It focuses on the emergency department at Gaffney Chicago Medical Center and on its doctors and nurses as they work to save patients' lives. It sometimes crosses over with characters from Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D..Cast
Main
- Nick Gehlfuss as Dr. Will Halstead, a former plastic surgeon and now an ED supervising attending physician from Chicago. He is the younger brother of Chicago P.D. character Detective Jay Halstead.
- Yaya DaCosta as April Sexton, a first generation Brazilian-American ED nurse. She has a younger brother, Noah, who began as a third-year medical student at the hospital. She is also a childhood friend of Chicago Fire character Lieutenant Kelly Severide.
- Torrey DeVitto as Dr. Natalie Manning, a pediatrician from Seattle who did a fellowship in emergency medicine in the first season and becomes an attending in the emergency medicine/pediatrics department in the fifth season. She is a widow coping with loss of her husband Jeff, who was killed in action while serving in the U.S. military. In the first-season episode "Bound", she gives birth to her son Owen.
- Rachel DiPillo as Dr. Sarah Reese, originally a fourth-year medical student, who does not feel inclined to emergency medicine, and would rather become a pathologist. After she graduates from medical school, she changes her mind about being a pathologist and becomes a resident in psychiatry. In the fourth-season premiere "Be My Better Half", she transfers from Chicago Med to Baylor after Dr. Daniel Charles finds out her father is a suspected serial killer and they have a falling out.
- Colin Donnell as Dr. Connor Rhodes, a cardio-thoracic fellow from Chicago, who spent some time in Riyadh following his residency. In the first season, he is a trauma surgery fellow, but switches his specialty to cardio-thoracic. In the fifth-season premiere "Never Going Back to Normal", he leaves Chicago Med after the deaths of his father Cornelius and rival and ex-girlfriend Dr. Ava Bekker, who committed suicide after murdering Cornelius to win Connor back.
- Brian Tee as LCDR Dr. Ethan Choi, United States Navy Reserve, an ED chief resident with an expertise in infectious diseases, who just returned to the United States after serving on the as a medical officer.
- S. Epatha Merkerson as Sharon Goodwin, a former OR nurse and the Chief of Patient and Medical Services of Gaffney Chicago Medical Center.
- Oliver Platt as Dr. Daniel Charles, the chief of the psychiatry department, who is usually tasked with helping the other doctors deal with the psychological nuances of medicine or difficult patients. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.
- Marlyne Barrett as Maggie Lockwood, the ED's charge nurse who is not afraid to speak her mind when it comes to schooling the residents. In the fifth season, she is diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, but is later cured and she marries former cancer patient Ben Campbell.
- Norma Kuhling as Dr. Ava Bekker, a South African trauma surgeon. She butts heads with Dr. Connor Rhodes on professional boundaries, and eventually their rivalry blossoms into a romantic relationship, which eventually comes to a messy end after Connor's father alleges that Ava seduced and slept with him to persuade him to fund Connor's hybrid OR. In the fourth-season finale "With a Brave Heart", Connor turns her down in reconciling their relationship and then suspects her of killing his father. In the fifth-season premiere "Never Going Back to Normal", she commits suicide after admitting to killing Connor's father in a last-ditch effort to win him back.
- Dominic Rains as Dr. Crockett Marcel, a new trauma surgeon fellow at Chicago Med.
Recurring
- Julie Berman as Dr. Samantha "Sam" Zanetti, an attending trauma surgeon who briefly dates Dr. Connor Rhodes
- Deron J. Powell as Tate Jenkins, a retired NFL player who meets Nurse April Sexton when she helps treat his son in season one. They become engaged in season two, but break it off shortly after she is infected with tuberculosis and miscarries their child.
- Peter Mark Kendall as Joey Thomas, a lab tech who dates Dr. Sarah Reese from seasons one to two.
- Roland Buck III as Dr. Noah Sexton, a first-year ED resident and Nurse April Sexton's younger brother.
- Brennan Brown as Dr. Sam Abrams, a blunt attending neurosurgeon.
- Gregg Henry as Dr. David Downey, a high-profile heart surgeon who takes an interest in Dr. Connor Rhodes, and dies of cancer in the first-season finale "Timing".
- D. W. Moffett as Cornelius Rhodes, the father of Dr. Connor Rhodes. He runs the family business Dolen Rhodes, a high-end department store started by his father. Connor's choice to go into medicine lead to a bitter estrangement between father and son. He dies from an insulin overdose while in the ICU, later revealed to be by Dr. Ava Bekker.
- Christina Brucato as Claire Rhodes, the sister of Dr. Connor Rhodes.
- Lorena Diaz as Nurse Doris, emergency nurse.
- Casey Tutton as Nurse Monique, emergency nurse.
- Amanda Marcheschi as Nurse Dina, ICU charge nurse, sometimes assists in surgical ward.
- Jeff Hephner as Jeff Clarke, a medical student, former Marine and Iraq veteran and Dr. Natalie Manning's old family friend. Clarke was briefly a firefighter at Firehouse 51 before returning to medical school after an injury. Clarke briefly dates Natalie until he confesses her late husband did not approve of his feelings for her. Clarke matches with a hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii after graduating medical school.
- Ato Essandoh as Dr. Isidore Latham, the attending surgeon who supervises Dr. Connor Rhodes' fellowship after Dr. Downey's death from seasons two to five when Connor leaves Chicago Med. Latham has autism spectrum disorder, which sometimes makes it difficult for him to understand the emotional responses of the medical staff.
- Mekia Cox as Dr. Robyn Charles, an epidemiologist and Dr. Daniel Charles' previously estranged daughter. She dates Dr. Connor Rhodes from seasons two to three.
- Eddie Jemison as Dr. Stanley Stohl, the chief of the emergency department, derisively referred to as "The Troll" by the staff because of his condescending and publicity-courting ways. He is fired from Chicago Med after an arbitrary decision by Gaffney Chicago Medical Center's COO.
- Alexandra Grey as Denise Lockwood, Nurse Maggie Lockwood's transgender sister.
- James Vincent Meredith as Barry, a paramedic who is Nurse Maggie Lockwood's on-again/off-again ex-boyfriend.
- Michel Gill as Robert Haywood, Dr. Sarah Reese's estranged father who was an astrophysics professor and a suspected serial killer.
- Arden Cho as Emily Choi, Dr. Ethan Choi's younger previously estranged recovering–drug addict sister. In the third-season episode "Born This Way", she gives birth to her son Vincent.
- Molly Bernard as Dr. Elsa Curry, a first-year ED resident who ends up working closely with Dr. Daniel Charles.
- Ian Harding as Phillip Davis, a widowed father who is left to raise his daughter alone after his wife dies from an aneurysm in childbirth. He begins dating Dr. Natalie Manning in season four and they were briefly engaged in season five.
Episodes
Crossovers
- "The Beating Heart" / "Now I'm God" – In the first crossover with Fire and P.D., continuing on "Malignant", a member of Firehouse 51 is rushed to Chicago Med for a stabbing while an attempted suicide uncovers four cases of chemo overdose, leading to an investigation that becomes personal for Voight.
- "Going to War" / "Endings" – In the second crossover with Fire and P.D., continuing on "When to Let Go", the victims of an apartment complex fire are rushed into Chicago Med and Intelligence races to find the culprit.
- "Infection" – In the third crossover with Fire and P.D., a bioterrorist spreads a deadly virus throughout Chicago.
Production
Development
The series was greenlighted by NBC for the show's pilot episode on May 1, 2015.On August 21, 2015, Andrew Dettman stepped down as showrunner due to "creative differences" following his appointment in June. Andrew Schneider and Diane Frolov were appointed as new showrunners on August 27, 2015.
NBC originally ordered 13 episodes for season one; on December 11, 2015, an additional 5 episodes were ordered, bringing the season to 18 episodes.
On February 1, 2016, NBC renewed the series for a second season. On May 15, 2016, it was announced that the series would be moving to Thursdays. The second season premiered on September 22, 2016.
On May 10, 2017, NBC renewed the series for a third season but opted to remove it from the fall schedule to midseason, after the premiere of Dick Wolf's sixth Law & Order series Law & Order True Crime. The series moved back to Tuesdays after spending one season on Thursdays.
On March 13, 2020, Universal Television shut down production on the series due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Casting
The Walking Dead star Laurie Holden was originally cast as Dr. Hannah Tramble, but dropped out due to "family reasons". On May 29, 2015, Arrow star Colin Donnell was cast as Dr. Connor Rhodes, the hospital's newest trauma surgeon. In July 2015, Jurassic World star Brian Tee joined the cast as Dr. Ethan Choi, an expert in infectious disease prevention and a Navy Reserve medical officer. Pretty Little Liars star Torrey DeVitto was cast on August 13, 2015, as Dr. Natalie Manning, the ED pediatrician. On August 14, 2015, Jane the Virgin star Rachel DiPillo was cast as Sarah Reese, a fourth-year medical student.On April 19, 2019, NBC announced that original cast member Colin Donnell and Norma Kuhling would be written out of the series at the end of the fourth season for creative reasons.
Reception
Ratings
Reviews
On Metacritic, season 1 has a weighted average score of 52 out of 100 based on 17 reviews, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 50% of critics have given the season 1 of the show a positive review based on 26 reviews, with an average rating of 5.52/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "While adding nothing new to the established medical procedural formula, Dick Wolf's Chicago Med hits its familiar beats forcefully enough to satisfy a few genre enthusiasts."Broadcast and streaming
Chicago Med airs on NBC and is available through the network's streaming platforms, on demand and Hulu with previous season "stacking rights" on the former, and pay-per-episode purchase via electronic sell-through platforms. The series will be available for streaming on Peacock along with Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., Law & Order, ' and '.In Canada, the series aired on the Global Television Network for four seasons, then moved to CityTV. Season three aired at the start of the week ahead of the NBC air date later in the week.
In the UK, Chicago Med premiered on March 20, 2016, on Universal Channel in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The second season aired on October 23, 2016.
In Australia, the series debuted on November 23, 2016 on the Nine Network.