Chicago Med is finally on the verge of arriving in the 2025 TV schedule. Although an early January winter premiere after a November fall finale isn't too painful of a break, the cliffhanger at the end of 2024 had Sharon Goodwin's (S. Epatha Merkerson) life in the balance and Dean Archer (Steven Weber) the only one with a chance at saving her. Speaking with CinemaBlend, Weber opened up about the show getting "down and dirty" with life-and-death cliffhangers in Med's new era and how Season 10 picks up in the new year.
In case you missed the fall finale back in November and/or haven't checked it out streaming with a Peacock subscription, Goodwin spent most of the episode bleeding out on the floor of her office after being stabbed by the widow of a woman who'd died because of a tough call the administrator had to make. She finally made a break for it when Archer arrived on her otherwise empty floor at Gaffney, but he only spotted her when the elevator doors were closing... and Cassidy was seemingly on the verge of stabbing Goodwin again.
Cue the credits rolling, of course, and fans having weeks to wait to find out Archer's next move and Goodwin's fate! Who would have guessed that Archer would start that episode depressed over being demoted and end with him as his boss' only hope of survival? When I spoke with Steven Weber during NBC's One Chicago winter press event, he clarified whether there was a break between filming the fall finale and the winter premiere, saying:
Oh, no, we went right on. There's a kind of emotional momentum, or dramatic momentum, that they kept going. There's no real break, so it was really good to continue on and see if we resolved what we set up so beautifully.
The promo for the first installment of 2025 certainly indicated that the story wouldn't pause for even a moment after Archer's horrified reaction to seeing Goodwin's bloody state, and that was evidently the case behind the scenes. I went on to ask the actor if the same director worked on both episodes for an easy transition or if there was a switch in the middle of the sequence, and Weber explained:
There was a switch, but it's interesting because there's also a slight tone switch. Everybody is in constant communication with each other, so it's not like one is really fast and suddenly we segue into this kind of turgid, slow, dark thing. No, everybody is very well equipped at maintaining the flavor and the energy of all the episodes, but it was interesting. I think people will be surprised, thrilled, pleased. Maybe! We'll see. But questions get answered, new questions are posed. It's gonna be pretty good.
Confirmation of questions being answered certainly sounds good to me, since Med has been heavier on cliffhangers in Season 10 than previous seasons. With the medical drama's fall finale standing as my favorite of the three One Chicago episodes that ended 2024, I noted that it was a stressful and wonderful way to conclude the fall finale, and Steven Weber agreed that "it was a great, a great thing to imbue this show with, to infuse the show with, with real dramatic tension that hooks everybody."
Of course, of the three shows, Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D. are historically the more likely ones to end a finale with a main character's life in the balance, and Goodwin is arguably the most essential character in the show. There are plenty of doctors who can fill in for each other in the ED if needed, but Goodwin? Certainly not. Steven Weber weighed in on this life-and-death cliffhanger from the fall finale as part of Med's new era under new showrunner Allen MacDonald:
That's a function of Allen MacDonald and [producer] Anna Dokoza, who ably picked up the gauntlet that [former showrunners] Andy [Schneider] and Diane [Frolov] kind of placed gently down. As great as they are and as great as the shows were, this season has been amped up. The connections are deeper. It's been a real infusion of energy and enthusiasm on the part of not only the cast, but the crew as well. Everybody has been really chuffed, getting down and dirty. Also with our fantastic DP, who has again added a lot of texture and a lot of depth to the world, to Gaffney, and to the whole Chicago Med world. It's been great. It's been a real shot in the arm, as we doctors say.
Allen MacDonald was entirely new to One Chicago when he arrived to take over Med as showrunner, after the departures of previous EPs/showrunners Andrew Schneider and Diane Frolov. While the newcomer didn't speak with his predecessors prior to Season 10, he got to work by watching the first 176 episodes, and Steven Weber has only had high praise for how the show has gotten "gritty" this time around. Or, in the context of Goodwin's cliffhanger, "down and dirty" for the winter premiere!
The winter premiere is nearly here, but if you want an early taste of the action ahead, check out the promo below!
Tune in to NBC on Wednesday, January 8 at 8 p.m. ET for the winter premiere of Chicago Med, called "No Love Lost." As always, Med leads into Chicago Fire at 9 p.m. ET and then Chicago P.D. at 10 p.m. ET. The network is bringing all three shows together before the end of the month for the first three-part crossover event since 2019, so there's a lot for fans to look forward to in the new year.
