Chicago Med Bosses Say Don't Expect a Crossover in Season 9, but Expect Plenty of New Beginnings

It's a season of new beginnings for the employees at Gaffney Chicago Medical Center, according to Chicago Med showrunner and executive producer Andrew Schneider. In order to reflect the extended hiatus that was a result of the dual SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes in Hollywood, the ninth season of the NBC medical drama, much like its Fire and P.D. counterparts, has jumped ahead six months in time — and all of the main characters now find themselves dealing with a new set of personal and professional challenges.

In the Season 8 finale, which aired last May, Dr. Will Halstead (Nick Gehlfuss) — one of Med's last remaining original characters — decided to resign after growing tired of the new changes implemented at Gaffney since entrepreneur Jack Dayton (Sasha Roiz) acquired a controlling stake in the hospital. For Dr. Halstead, the coup de grâce was Dayton's insistence on live-streaming his own surgery using his controversial O.R. 2.0 system, which had recently caused the death of a patient. Dayton's surgery was a success, but the issues that came up during the operation and public demonstration were enough to leave Dayton in financial ruin, forcing him to sell the hospital.

The Season 9 premiere, titled "Row Row Row Your Boat on a Rocky Sea," finds the entire team of physicians treating a flood of patients from a crash. Meanwhile, Dr. Dean Archer (Steven Weber) begins to have second thoughts about his kidney transplant, and Dr. Daniel Charles (Oliver Platt) can't shake the feeling that he knows the new Emergency Department attending physician (played by a dashing Luke Mitchell).

TV Guide recently called up Schneider and his wife and co-showrunner Diane Frolov to tease what has happened to the characters in the last six months. (Like Fire and P.D., the new season of Med will consist of 13 episodes.)

It's no secret that of all three Chicago shows, Med has undergone the most turnover in recent years, and you have been forced to reinvent yourselves year after year. What does the hospital look like without both Will and Ethan (Brian Tee) this season?

Andrew Schneider: First of all, since it's been such a long hiatus between seasons, we decided to make that part of the premiere episode, but we're not jumping in right after last season. So not only are we are advancing six months —

Diane Frolov: But quite a bit has been going on off-camera. When we are coming back, the hospital has been bought by a consortium of business people, so there's new members of the board.

Schneider: And a new upper administration, which we will deal with and that will, of course, always cause some conflict. There will be some conflicts of interest among the new board members vis-à-vis the hospital, so there'll be some ethical issues involved in that.

Frolov: So, in terms of Will leaving, people have had time to process them not being there, so we're not looking back on that, and we're introducing a new doctor in the first episode. People's relationships have evolved, so we're not coming back in like, Andy said, just picking up where we left off.

What are some of the challenges that administrator Sharon Goodwin (S. Epatha Merkerson) is going to face now that she has to answer to another new set of leadership? What kind of conflicts of interest are you alluding to?

Frolov: We have a story where we discover that someone who owns the pharmaceutical company, or at least is a major shareholder, is on the [hospital] board, so you can see how that might [cause problems]. That's not illegal either.

Schneider: So when medicines from that pharmaceutical company are promoted in the hospital, it looks like self-dealing.

Frolov: With Goodwin, she is going to have some personal problems but also a romance as well. But that is going to, again, cause conflict for her.

Let's talk about that new E.D. doctor, Dr. Mitch Ripley. It's been previewed that the relationship between Dr. Ripley and Dr. Charles gets off to a pretty rocky start.

Schneider: It turns out that they have a path that goes back to when Ripley was an adolescent. It's a fraught relationship, and it will involve some conflict. It will cause Charles to do some soul searching about his own past —

Frolov: And his treatment of patients in the past.

Speaking of Charles, he and Liliana (Alet Taylor) exchanged 'I love you's toward the end of last season. How will their relationship continue to evolve this season?

Frolov: They are living together. We're not going to see them in the first episode. There's a lot going on in the first episode, so we won't see their domestic situation [until] a little bit farther in the season, but they have been living together.

Schneider: It's a bright spot in Charles' life, but her brother, Pawel, will come back to be a problem.

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Dr. Crockett Marcel (Dominic Rains) was tasked with fixing bugs in O.R. 2.0 at the end of last season, and he will be pushing to use it on patients again in the premiere.

Frolov: Yeah, he does have a lot of pressure on him. And in this first episode, he needs to use 2.0, but he has not used it on human beings.

Schneider: He's only done simulations, and it's a very risky surgery, but he feels he has to use it. And we're also going to put him in a new kind of management position as a physician on the board, which will change his relationships to the doctors of the ED.

Maggie (Marlyne Barrett) briefly contemplated taking a job opportunity elsewhere and leaving Med toward the end of last season, but her relationship with Ben (Charles Malik Whitfield) is also in trouble now. Where is her headspace this season?

Schneider: First of all, since we are jumping ahead six months, we've resolved the issue of her staying at Med. It's her home.

Frolov: [The new issues are] based on many of the things we saw last season with Ben and with her ex, and the things that she continued to do weren't helpful for relationships, and now it's come back to bite her.

Archer was dealt quite a blow at the end of last season. He had to go on hemodialysis after his estranged son, Sean (Luigi Sottile), fell off the wagon.

Frolov: Sean has had six months to become sober, so he can now donate his kidney. What Archer is struggling with in the first episode is, should he take it?

Schneider: And feeling worthy of his son's gift.

Frolov: He doesn't feel like a very good father, so he's had inner turmoil about it. It's a big deal  —

Schneider: Particularly for a father who has such a difficult relationship with his son.

But how does Sean feel about giving his kidney to his father?

Frolov: Sean feels really good about it. It's something that he really wants. In fact, in a way, it's something that he really needs to do. He wants to have this connection with his father; he wants to do this for his father. He wants it to feel like a success, in a way, like he's helping to save a life.

A lot has been said among the fans and actors themselves about the relationship between Dr. Archer and Dr. Hannah Asher (Jessy Schram). There seems to be a real meeting of souls between them, but that always begs the question of whether their connection could turn into something more. How do you personally see that relationship evolving on the show?

Schneider: There is a deep connection between those two, and I think they both have very strong feelings for the other person, but they're not going to act on that romantically — at least not yet. But friendships can turn into romantic relationships.

Frolov: They're very close as friends at the moment, and I think that taking the next step is a big step. We want to take our time with that, because they make great buddies, and that's an interesting relationship.

Schneider: But you could imagine that if one of them becomes involved romantically with someone, the other person might be a little jealous, whether they express it or not…

Is there anything else you can tease about the personal storylines of characters this season? Are we going to see any familiar faces pop up?

Schneider: Right now, we don't have any plans to bring in any former characters who left the show, but we are going to see our recurring cast of other physicians. We mentioned that Goodwin is going to have a romantic relationship. And the new character, played by Luke Mitchell, is a very handsome, dynamic guy, so romance could certainly be in the offing with him.

You're all working on a truncated timeline this season, but have you had any discussions with other Chicago producers about a major crossover this season?

Frolov: We have had serious talks about a crossover. I don't know if we're going to be able to pull it off. Obviously, when we start the season, each show is in its own world with its own dramas, right? So, it's all about how we time that.

Schneider: Logistically, they're always tough to do, because you've got to crossboard these three shows, but it's always something that we'll look to do. We don't have one on the board just yet. But that doesn't mean it won't happen. There's been a lot of discussion, and certainly, there will be the mini-crossovers of characters from one show to another in the Chicago universe.

What is the overarching theme of this season?

Schneider: I think the theme is, really, new beginnings. We're resetting our world. The world has changed. Characters have gone, new characters have arrived, and we're also going to bring in another female doctor in Episode 2. Charles has a new relationship, Goodwin will have a new relationship, and something may be going on with Maggie. There's a lot of new beginnings and possibilities in the air.

Chicago Med airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on NBC. Episodes stream the next day on Peacock.