We’ll have to wait all summer to find out what happens next on Chicago Med, but at least it won’t be as long as the last hiatus.
Chicago Med Season 9 ended with some cliffhangers that made our jaws drop, including a question about whether one character will be coming back.
We don’t know much about what Season 10 will bring, but one thing’s for sure: it’ll involve a double helping of drama.
Chicago Med focuses on an ensemble of doctors, but each has a particular role. When Will Halstead was the lead doctor, he was a rebel with a cause, constantly breaking the rules for the right reason.
Now that Halstead is gone, the focus shifted during Season 9 to a few new characters.
Ripley was a new doctor with a traumatic past, and for a while, Marcel had to deal with Zola, a Halstead-like resident who was constantly doing whatever she felt was right, even if it caused trouble for everyone.
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Zola is long gone, but Ripley’s sticking around, though he could be in serious trouble, and there’s also plenty of drama ahead for charge nurse Maggie Lockwood, OBGYN Hannah Asher, and the rest of the doctors at Med.
Let’s examine what we know about Chicago Med Season 10 so far. (Bookmark this post; we will update it as we have more information.)
Has Chicago Med Been Renewed?
Yes! Chicago Med was renewed in March 2024, along with the other two Chicago shows.
NBC’s decision to renew Med was unsurprising, considering that the series regularly earned high ratings and kicked off One Chicago Wednesdays.
It’s hard to believe, but this renewal means Med will air for a 10th season. Has this series been on for almost a decade already?
Will Chicago Med Do Anything Special for its 10th Season?
Ten years is a long time, but Med hasn’t announced any intention to do anything special for this anniversary. It pales compared to the 26 years that Law & Order: SVU will have been on the air, but still.
10 is a milestone, and we hope some special episodes are planned.
The cast has remained remarkably stable over the past decade, though some visits from long-gone characters such as Sarah Reese and cameos by those who departed recently wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Disappointing and Downright Offensive Character Departures
What Happened at The End of Chicago Med Season 9?
Chicago Med Season 9 ended with a heartbreaking story for Marcel and a cliffhanger for Ripley.
Ripley spent the season finale trying and failing to get help for an aging prisoner who now had dementia.
The prisoner was doing a life sentence for a murder 50 years ago and had been accompanied to Med by a guard who had no sympathy for him and was adamant that he was faking his symptoms.
Testing proved that this was false and that the man had brain atrophy consistent with dementia. However, the attorney general told Sharon (off-screen) that she couldn’t risk being seen as soft on crime by allowing the man to be transferred to an appropriate facility.
Ripley blew up at Charles about this, causing Charles to declare he was done with him, but there was more trouble ahead for him. Troublemaker Pawel was admitted to the hospital again after being beaten with a baseball bat… and Pawel claimed Ripley was responsible.
Meanwhile, Marcel had a hard time dealing with it when he learned that not only had Colin, the young patient in need of a liver transplant from Chicago Med Season 9 Episode 12, passed away, but the boy’s father had killed himself shortly afterward.
Finally, Sean had it out with Archer after Archer disposed of a bag of drugs a patient had swallowed instead of turning the drugs over to the police.
Sean claimed Archer was nicer to the patient than he had been to him, and he didn’t think people sobered up unless they had spent time in jail.
Then he stormed off, mad at the world, especially at his father, leaving Archer at a loss for what to do next.
Related: Chicago Med Season Finale Review: Heartbreaking Cases That Still Manage To Entertain
What Storylines Can We Expect on Chicago Med Season 10?
Ripley’s story will probably take center stage, at least during the first part of the season.
He can’t work at Med until his name is cleared.
There’s no real reason that anyone should believe Pawel, but Chicago Med will probably use the tired TV trope of everyone trusting the word of someone untrustworthy over someone else’s claims of innocence.
Ripley probably won’t do anything to help himself because he thinks his BFF Scully did the deed.
There may be a plot twist here, and Scully isn’t guilty either, despite all his talking about how he’d “take care” of the problem for Ripley.
That could lead to tension between the friends and conflict between Ripley and Charles. Charles likely doesn’t believe Pawel, but he washed his hands of Ripley, so he may not be eager to defend him, either.
Meanwhile, Marcel was depressed over the death of these patients. I’d hoped he’d push through, but with the announcement that Dominic Rains is leaving Med, it doesn’t appear that’ll happen.
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Marcel has been headed for a breakdown for a while. He also blamed himself for Zola’s bad behavior (with an assist from Archer, who should have kept his ridiculous opinion to himself) and micromanaged Tanaka-Reed.
The big question is whether we will get the end of his story playing out on-screen or if he will already be gone when the series returns.
Which Cast Members are Returning for Chicago Med Season 10?
As mentioned above, Dominic Rains is out as a series regular and we don’t know yet if he will appear in the premiere or if the other characters will explain that he chose to take a leave of absence following the devastating events of the finale.
Marcel’s absence makes sense, considering how depressed he was, but we hope he gets a final scene so that fans can get a sense of closure.
Dick Wolf shows have a bad habit of explaining character absences instead of showing them — while sometimes that’s unavoidable, it’ll be doubly heartbreaking if Marcel is treated this way.
As of now, the following cast members are returning:
- Oliver Platt as Dr. Daniel Charles
- Luke Mitchell as Dr. Mitch Ripley
-
Jessy Schram as Dr. Hannah Asher
- Steven Weber as Dr. Dean Archer
- Marlyne Barrett as Nurse Maggie Lockwood
- S Epatha Merkerson as Ms. Sharon Goodwin
We will probably also again have Sam Abrams, Peter from the hospital board, various residents, and various guest stars as recurring characters, and various guest stars will play patients.
Although Marcel will no longer be a series regular, he might appear as an occasional guest if the story calls for it.
Who Will Be Joining Chicago Med Season 10?
It’s not all bad news out there! We have two new casting announcements.
Sarah Ramos (Parenthood, The Bear) has been cast to play Dr. Caitlin Lenox. Lenox was described to Deadline as “an ED Attending poised to get Gaffney Medical into shape.”
Darren Barnet (Never Have I Ever, Road House) will be playing Frost, “a pediatric resident who is harboring a secret.”
While that’s not much to go on, Chicago Med has a history of bringing in new doctors to change the show’s dynamics. This has worked well for them and for the Chicago Universe franchise overall.
A New Writing Team Will Take Over Chicago Med
For the past nine years, Chicago Med’s writing team has been led by Diane Frolov and Andy Schneider, but this team has stepped down.
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Instead, Allen McDonald will take over head writing duties. McDonald recently served as a showrunner for Amazon Prime’s Harlan Coben’s Shelter.
It’s hard to predict what having a new showrunner means for Chicago Med.
Every writing and producing team has its own ideas about what stories to focus on and what direction to take the show in.
Will There Be Crossovers With Other One Chicago Shows?
Although there were no crossovers with the other Chicago shows during Season 9, there’s no reason this couldn’t happen during the new season.
In the past, there have been crossover events where a story stretches over all three Chicago shows.
That hasn’t happened as much in recent years because of COVID concerns, but it might still be possible as restrictions continue to ease.
Related: 17 Inspired and Surprising TV Crossovers
Even if there aren’t complete crossovers, there might be opportunities for cameo appearances.
It was disappointing that Chicago PD Season 11 Episode 13 used random doctors to treat Voight and Upton instead of any of the characters from Med, so let’s hope they rectify that in the new season!
When Will Chicago Med Season 10 Premiere?
Chicago Med Season 10 will premiere on September 25, 2024. This follows the usual pattern of premiering toward the end of September.
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Med will continue to air on NBC on Wednesdays at 8/7c, with each new episode dropping on Peacock the day after it airs.
How Many Episodes Will Chicago Med Season 10 Have?
If you were worried about the annoyingly shortened season becoming the norm, don’t.
Chicago Med Season 10 will have 22 episodes to develop characters and storylines, and we won’t need another six-month time jump from the finale to make things make sense.
Is There a Trailer Available for Chicago Med Season 10?
NBC has not yet released a trailer for Chicago Med Season 10, but we will post one as soon as it becomes available.
The trailer will likely give us a better idea of Med’s direction. As new characters join the series, we’ll probably meet them in the trailer! In the meantime, hit the comments to share your thoughts on all things Chicago Med!