After Chicago Med's Dominic Rains Exited The NBC Drama, There's Good News For Three Longtime Cast Members In Season 10

Marlyne Barrett, Oliver Platt, and S. Epatha Merkerson in Chicago Med Season 9
(Image credit: George Burns Jr/NBC)

While there are still months to go before One Chicago returns to NBC in the 2024 TV schedule, casting decisions are being made on Chicago Med. Less than a week after news broke that Dominic Rains was leaving the medical drama after five season, the futures of three different stars on Med have been confirmed. Fortunately, the news is better for these three.

The three big remaining series regulars from the earliest days of Chicago Med have signed on for Season 10, with Deadline reporting that deals closed for S. Epatha Merkerson, Oliver Platt, and Marlyne Barrett. Whether those deals guarantee any seasons beyond the upcoming tenth remains to be seen, but fans can rest easy that even if Crockett is nowhere to be seen come fall, that won't be the case for Goodwin, Dr. Charles, or Maggie. The news arrives not long after Platt explained how he could appear in Med and The Bear at the same time.

Fans may not have been too concerned about these three in particular, as Season 9 served solid storylines for all of them, and they weren't left on cliffhangers quite like Crockett back in the Season 9 finale. As a viewer of all three shows of One Chicago, I for one am glad for the confirmation, though. The franchise also lost Tracy Spiridakos from Chicago P.D. and Kara Killmer from Chicago Fire this year. Med's longest-running stars being guaranteed for the 2024-2025 TV season is worth celebrating. P.D. is heading into Season 12 and Fire will premiere Season 13.

There are major changes happening behind the scenes for the tenth season of Chicago Med as well. Showrunners Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider stepped down from the show after Season 9, and they had been making the calls at Med from the first season. Their replacement will be Allen MacDonald, who is an interesting choice.

The nine-show Dick Wolf TV universe often promotes within the franchise, particularly One Chicago. For Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D.'s latest showrunner changes, a producer – Andrea Newman in the case of Fire and Gwen Sigan for P.D. – was promoted to the showrunner role. Allen MacDonald has credits as an executive producer on shows like CSI, 13 Reasons Why, and Harlan Coben's Shelter, but never on Chicago Med or any other Dick Wolf show.

The Season 9 finale ended with the future of Mitch Ripley at the hospital in question, after Pawel – a.k.a. the troublesome brother of Liliana, Dr. Charles' live-in girlfriend – accused the ED doctor of beating him up as retribution for the lawsuit. Dr. Charles was able to step in before the situation got violent, and Maggie stopped Ripley from attempting to treat Pawel and making everything worse. As for Goodwin... well, if there's not a big time jump from the end of Season 9 to the Season 10 premiere, she might have a big mess waiting for her down in the ED. But when doesn't she?

If Chicago Med returns to normal scheduling after the WGA writers strike and SAG-AFTRA actors strike shortened the 2023-2024 TV season, then Season 10 is likely to premiere in late September. For now, you can revisit earlier seasons of the medical drama streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription.

Laura Hurley
Senior Content Producer

Laura turned a lifelong love of television into a valid reason to write and think about TV on a daily basis. She's not a doctor, lawyer, or detective, but watches a lot of them in primetime. CinemaBlend's resident expert and interviewer for One Chicago, the galaxy far, far away, and a variety of other primetime television. Will not time travel and can cite multiple TV shows to explain why. She does, however, want to believe that she can sneak references to The X-Files into daily conversation (and author bios).