Chicago Med is arguably the place to be in One Chicago when it comes to love triangles, and they can get pretty weird. Season 5 alone has featured a very creepy triangle thanks to Philip showing his true colors in the premiere when he tricked Natalie into thinking they were engaged, and thus making the Philip/Natalie/Will mess even messier.
As it turns out, however, there was a love triangle involving Natalie and Will that almost happened starting back in Season 2, and it arguably would have been even weirder than Philip/Natalie/Will. Why? Because it would have involved Will's brother.
As longtime Med fans may remember, Natalie considered asking out Jay Halstead of Chicago P.D. back in Season 2, which would have resulted in a cross-show triangle involving brothers. Nick Gehlfuss and Torrey DeVitto, who respectively play Chicago Med's Will Halstead and Natalie Manning, recently talked about the love triangle that almost was in a chat with TV Guide:
Nick Gehlfuss: We were on the brink of it once with my brother and her! Remember my brother was coming at the end of one of our seasons?Torrey DeVitto: That's right, that's right!Gehlfuss: It didn't take off. Holiday dinners would be weird there.DeVitto: Yeah.
The seemingly throwaway twist of Natalie possibly asking out Jay never turned into anything, but Med evidently really was considering hooking up Jay and Natalie. Viewers could have been stuck with a Manstead vs. Manstead love triangle, and that would have just been weird.
I will happily suspend my disbelief in One Chicago for flesh-eating bacteria and emergencies that regularly require the attention of a very select group of life-savers, but I would have had a hard time rooting for Natalie/Will if Natalie/Jay had happened, at least without a few seasons in between! As Nick Gehlfuss said, Halstead/Manning/Halstead really could have made things weird between the brothers, on top of the inevitable relationship drama.
If the brotherly love triangle had happened, it's probably safe to say that Will would have won Natalie's heart over Jay eventually. The cross-show romance may work for Trudy of Chicago P.D. and Mouch of Chicago Fire, but Will and Natalie are arguably the leads of Med. Surely a love triangle between them and one of the leads of another show wouldn't end with Jay and Natalie living happily-ever-after! Natalie could use some happiness, though.
Fortunately, Natalie (and viewers) never had to choose between the brothers Halstead, and that's apparently largely thanks to Torrey DeVitto. Speaking with TVLine, DeVitto addressed whether it would have been awkward for Natalie to have gone for Jay before Will:
No, because it didn’t go far enough for it to be awkward. But when I saw that was happening, I did reach out to our writers. I was like, 'First of all, people are going to hate Natalie because everybody loves ‘Manstead’ together. And also, if you ever want ‘Manstead’ together in the future, you can’t have her dating his brother now. Natalie already dated her dead husband’s best friend! Hello! [Laughs] She’s just crossing all sorts of lines and boundaries. I just think we need to take a step back here.' But it was an interesting choice. I was going to go with it, but it just didn’t work out.
Just imagine how weird it would have been if Jay was yanking Will away from Will's wedding to Natalie last season, if Jay and Natalie had a romantic history of their own! As Torrey DeVitto said, Natalie had a complicated romantic history already, and Med's Manstead might have been tainted if Med had explored a Med/P.D. Manstead.
The latest episode of Chicago Med Season 5 actually seemed to put an end to the big love triangle of Season 5 so far, with Natalie breaking things off with Philip after trusting her instincts that something was off with him. Will kind of shot himself in the foot by how he handled Natalie breaking up with Philip, and now Natalie wants him to stay away from her too. From three to one, in one fell swoop!
For his part, Jay Halstead may be in for a workplace romance on his own show, so I'm guessing the end of Philip/Natalie/Will wasn't to reopen the door for Jay and Natalie. Find out what happens next for Natalie and Will with new episodes of Chicago Med, airing Wednesdays on NBC at 8 p.m. ET ahead of new episodes of Chicago Fire at 9 p.m. ET and episodes of Chicago P.D. (featuring Jesse Lee Soffer as Jay) at 10 p.m. ET.
