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Sarah Ramos' Dr. Lenox Will Be a Chicago Med "Antagonist" & Irritate [SPOILER]
"We are hitting the ground running," Chicago Med's new showrunner Allen Macdonald told NBC Insider.
Chicago Med kicks off its historic 10th season September 25 at 8/7c on NBC. And it's going to be one to remember.
In an interview with NBC Insider, veteran actor Oliver Platt (Dr. Charles) revealed the premiere episode starts with a mass casualty event that will demand all hands on deck. And some of the doctors pitching in to help are new characters fans haven't met yet.
"We have two wonderful new cast members, Darren Barnet [as Dr. Frost] and Sarah Ramos [as Dr. Caitlin Lenox]..." Platt told NBC Insider. "There's just a lot of sparks flying right away. As an actor, it's just incredibly exciting and fun to watch."
He continued, "We work with these extraordinary Chicago-based crews, and it's such a cliché, but we've been doing this for 10 years now. That's a significant percentage of my life, right? We're so lucky that they all want to come back. They all come back and that just means so much to us. It's sort of like there's a family reunion happening at the beginning of every season, which just adds to this overwhelming sense of gratitude."
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Showrunner Allen Macdonald talks Chicago Med Season 10
If you forget what happened last season, here's a refresher: After Liliana's (Alet Taylor) brother accused Ripley of beating him within inches of his life during the finale, Med fans were left reeling for answers. How are Hannah Asher (Jessy Schram) and Mitch Ripley (Luke Mitchell) doing amid the shocking accusations? Will Dr. Charles and his girlfriend Liliana stick together during the chaos? What actually happened?
NBC Insider spoke with Chicago Med's new showrunner, Allen Macdonald, about what to expect. Read on, below:
NBC Insider: What can fans expect from Season 10 of Chicago Med?
Allen Macdonald: The season premiere is about a mass casualty event. A commuter ship is in an accident and capsizes in Lake Michigan near Navy Pier. And most of those patients are brought to Gaffney. And so when we start the first episode of Season 10 and the season premiere, we are hitting the ground running.
Just speaking big picture, I think that we have a lot of fun drama in store for [viewers] this season. And a lot of surprises, a lot of drama. I would say if there was an essential theme to Season 10: It's family and also combating loneliness a little bit, which we especially see in Dr. Charles' storyline this season. One of my main goals moving forward this season, as I've come into the show for Season 10, is really embracing the E.D.— and all our characters in it—as a family... We're really gonna' focus on them as a family unit, but like any family, there's a lot of dysfunctional dynamics at play.
Dr. Mitch Ripley (Luke Mitchell) was accused of attacking Pawel, the brother of Dr. Charles' girlfriend. Where does that storyline go?
[The Season 10 premiere] all kind of circles around the Pawel Wapniarski (Kristof Konrad) of it, Liliana's brother. The big question is: What was Ripley's involvement in the attack on Pawel in the season finale last year? If he had any involvement at all. And then also the question of—since Liliana is Pawel's sister and she tends to defend him—how will that affect her relationship with Charles moving forward? And both those questions are answered in one way or another in the season premiere.
Where is Dr. Hannah Asher's journey taking her in Season 10?
Hannah's journey this season is trying to connect to people. To connect better with her own family, which will be something that we get into on the backside of the season, but it's something that we're building toward. I think also her past as an addict is going to resurface again this season, especially in the top half. And that's not to say that she falls back into a hole of drugs or anything because I'll just tell you right now, that's not what we're doing.
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But we've got to find out that staying clean is more of a struggle for her than one might think just looking at her. Because Hannah is always very up when we see her, she's always very great at her job. She is endlessly patient with her patients and with her coworkers—although her patience runs out a little bit with Ripley in the season premiere. But there's a cost to that because there's a lot of stress and anxiety in her life. And, you know, the easy way out to deal with those stresses and anxieties is to use. And so we're gonna find out that there are moments of temptation for her.
Darren Barnet is joining the One Chicago family this season as Dr. Frost. What can you tell fans about this new character?
Dr. Frost is a pediatrician. In the first episode, we're gonna find out that a local hospital is going to be closing its doors within a week. That is gonna put a big weight on Gaffney because Gaffney is going to have to absorb the overflow from this closed hospital. And when we first meet Dr. John Frost, he is coming in with a little girl who possibly has some neurological issues, and he needs to get an MRI. And he is unable to do that at his hospital because, in preparation for the closing, they have already sold their MRI.
But when Dr. Frost drops in, it'll be in the middle of a mass casualty incident... Suffice it to say, there's a lot of activity going on, and Frost has to talk Maggie (Marlyne Barrett), who's the first person he meets, into helping him get this MRI. Dr. Frost is very charming. He's very good-looking. He knows both those things, and he's not averse to using them to his advantage. But unfortunately for Frost, the first person he's meeting is Maggie, and she's gonna see right through that, and she's gonna check him very quickly.
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We also have Sarah Ramos jumping on board as Dr. Caitlin Lenox. What new dynamic will she bring to the hospital?
Dr. Lenox is not a cuddly teddy bear at all. She is a former military like Archer (Steven Weber), which should be something that bonds them together, but it's really something that kind of irritates them both... Archer is not excited at all about Lenox's arrival, and she really gets under his skin as well as the whole E D. because she says exactly what she's thinking. She does not back down from fights. She's just one of those characters that is going to function as an antagonist in our E D.
But the thing is, I say all those things, but Lenox is actually inside a very empathetic doctor. But she does not believe in getting to know patients super well. She believes in being honest and kind with them. But to her, she feels if you spend too much time babying the patient, that slows down the train and that if you spend that extra time with the patient, the next patient's paying for that. And her goal is not to save money so much as it is to make sure that everybody gets treated.
Season 9 was a crucible for some compelling love storylines. Hannah, Sharon, and Maggie all explored new romances within the hospital. Where do you see those romances heading from here?
There is a one-month time jump [during the Season 10 premiere]. We're also playing a little bit of catch-up with our characters and their love stories as that hour plays out, and we're gonna find out very quickly that there's an icy chill between Hannah and Ripley. Ripley has never disclosed to Hannah what his involvement with the Pawel attack was, if any involvement at all. But he's not answering the question, and that doesn't sit well with Hannah because she believes if you're going to be in a relationship, you have to have full transparency and honesty, and because he's not extending that to her, things are kind of on hold. They are on a break.
We will also touch on the relationships between Dr. Charles and Liliana, and we will also be touching in subsequent episodes on the relationship between Loren (Henderson Wade) and Maggie, which I can tell you is still going strong. The relationship between Dennis (John Earl Jelks) and Goodwin is still going strong, as well.
What would you say are three words that describe that Season 10 premiere?
Suspenseful. Emotional. Chaotic.
