Chicago Med entered a new era with its tenth season in the 2024 TV schedule, with longtime showrunners Diane Frolov and Andy Schneider stepping down and Allen MacDonald joining One Chicago for the medical drama's top job. MacDonald spoke with CinemaBlend ahead of Season 10 about how he prepared to take over this show nine seasons and nearly 200 episodes in. Now, shortly before the fall finale, I asked star Steven Weber about the new status quo, and he didn't hold back.
And Steven Weber was a great person to be able to ask, because Dr. Archer has gone through the wringer this season, starting by learning that he'd have to share ED Chief duties with Dr. Lenox and most recently being demoted to attending. (You can stream the season so far with a Peacock subscription.) After explaining how it's hard "not to take it personally" when viewers react poorly to his character, I asked what Season 10 has been like with Allen MacDonald as the new showrunner, and he shared:
Andy and Diane took this show and they made it into this gorgeous, thrilling, moving world. They made Chicago Med, they built Gaffney. They really did, and all the people in it, and they were incredibly gracious in handing the torch to Allen McDonald and [producer] Anna Decosa. They have taken the baton and run with it. Sorry for that metaphor, but they really have, and they've decided to take what was already certainly not broken and make it gritty and go deeper than we have, and this show has, on more than one occasion, gone very deep. This is now the daily exploration of Chicago Med. They are getting gritty, man.
Of the three One Chicago shows, Med was actually the only one with the original showrunners still on board at the end of the 2023-2024 TV season, as Fire's Andrea Newman and P.D.'s Gwen Sigan were both producers before receiving the reins as showrunners. With Andy Schneider and Diane Frolov's departures, Med is exploring new and grittier directions. (Fun fact: all of the current One Chicago showrunners share a text thread that could come in handy for the three-show crossover reportedly in the works.) Weber continued:
We're seeing more personal stories. We're seeing more stories of the people who've always been there, like the nurses, and that's really fantastic. And I think it's smart, because the audience is smart. They like their comfort food. Believe me, I'm one of them, but if you raise the bar, they will come. Allen and Anna are raising the bar, and the audience is coming there, as evidenced by our ratings. People are really digging the show and coming to it and looking forward to it, not just as comfort, but they're excited by it. That's a function of our new writers.
Archer's "personal stories" in Season 10 have certainly been grittier, ranging from his relationship with his son to his struggles at work with Lenox. Those struggles came to a head when he more or less gave Goodwin an ultimatum about choosing between him or Lenox as ED Chief, and he didn't get the answer he was looking for. In the promo for the fall finale, he's even seen telling Hannah that he's written a resignation letter. Take a look:
Of course, Archer writing a resignation letter is far from a guarantee that he'll be resigning from the hospital by the time the final credits roll. If anything, the preview that he'll be talking to Hannah about it is a good sign. Not only do they have a history of helping each other through tough times, but Allen MacDonald proved to be a fan of their dynamic, with the showrunner telling CinemaBlend earlier this year that Hannah and Archer are "the ones that each goes to the other in moments of emotional need or when they need to talk something out."
Based on the promo, there are also many more events to deal with in the fall finale, not the least of which is the return of Sarah Reese for the first time since early Season 4 in 2018 and the resolution of the murder plot against Goodwin. Tune in to NBC on Wednesday, November 20 at 8 p.m. ET for the Season 10 fall finale of Chicago Med, and you can revisit earlier episodes of the season (and full series) streaming on Peacock.
As always, Med is followed by Chicago Fire and its longtime cast members at 9 p.m. ET and P.D. with what looks like a stressful fall finale at 10 p.m. ET, all on NBC Wednesdays and streaming next day.
