Three original cast members from Chicago Med are returning for season 10 following some surprising franchise exits.
S. Epatha Merkerson, Oliver Platt and Marlyne Barrett all closed new deals to extend their run on the NBC medical drama, according to TVLine. Merkerson, 71, is set to reprise her role as Sharon Goodwin, Platt, 64, will continue to play Dr. Daniel Charles and Barrett, 45, will return as Maggie Lockwood.
Chicago Med premiered in 2015 and follows the emergency department doctors and nurses of the fictional Gaffney Chicago Medical Center. This is the third series set in Dick Wolf’s Chicago universe, which also includes Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D.
The One Chicago franchise has been making headlines as several cast members across all three shows announced exits. The most recent was Dominic Rains, who will not be returning for season 10 of Chicago Med after playing Dr. Crockett Marcel for the past five seasons.
Chicago Med faced another shakeup when showrunners Diane Frolov and Andy Schneider announced their departures after being with the show since its debut. Allen MacDonald is now the showrunner starting with season 10.
“We were honored to be chosen by Dick Wolf to run Chicago Med and have tremendously enjoyed our association with Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television. We love Chicago Med and have devoted all our creative energies to it, but after nine seasons we feel it’s time for us to move on and explore other possibilities,” Frolov and Schneider said in a join statement in April. “We’ve been privileged to work with a great writing staff, production team and a brilliant cast of actors. We will miss them all.”
Wolf, 77, issued a response as well after news broke, saying, “We’re grateful to Diane and Andy for nine fabulous seasons of ‘Chicago Med.’ They helped us give NBC a No. 1 bonafide hit for almost a decade.”
Despite the large amount of cast changes, NBC’s president of program planning Jeff Bader isn’t concerned about the future of the franchise.
“Cast comes in, cast goes out,” Bader told TVLine in an interview published on Monday, July 1. “It’s interesting. Because every year there are cast changes, and every year someone asks the same question” about what’s going on within the One Chicago universe. “But [those shows] just keep going on.”
Bader noted that each of the Chicago shows has continued to find success, adding, “We’re thrilled with how the Chicagos do on Wednesday. We have no plans on changing anything on that night.”
Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med are set to return on NBC with new seasons this fall.
