‘Chicago Med’: Charles & Ripley Conflict, Sharon’s New Romance, and More Season 9 Scoop

When Chicago Med returns for Season 9, some things have changed at the hospital — and in its staff’s personal lives.

One relationship is still going strong, while another isn’t doing well. Charles (Oliver Platt) has history with the new ED attending, Ripley (Luke Mitchell), while it’s the past that might be keeping Archer (Steven Weber) from accepting the organ he needs. And the hospital is under new management, but that’s not necessarily a good thing.

Executive producers Diane Frolov and Andy Schneider preview the drama to come.

You’re bringing in this new ED attending, Ripley, and he has a history with Charles. What can you preview about that history and their dynamic now?

Diane Frolov: It goes back to when Ripley was an adolescent. He is carrying some resentment about what happened between him and Charles.

Andy Schneider: The whole thing has forced Charles to look back on things he did as a psychiatrist years ago and to do some soul searching.

Will he be opening up to others more as a result?

Frolov: Well, certainly to Ripley.

Schneider: And to Goodwin (S. Epatha Merkerson). And Charles is also now at six months after the finale, in a relationship with Liliana (Alet Taylor). They’re living together.

How is that relationship going? Is it still going strong?

Frolov: Yes, it is. We’re not going to see it in the first episode. We’ll be coming back to that relationship a few episodes in.

Schneider: Yes, it’s a real bright spot in his life, but her brother will come back to be a problem in this romance.

What else should we know about Ripley? How does the rest of the staff react to him? They must pick up on tension between him and Charles.

Schneider: Nobody has any idea about his relationship with Charles, and he seems like this great, charming, potentially romantic figure in the ED.

Romantic for who?

Schneider: I don’t want to [spoil] that yet.

Archer’s journey to this kidney transplant continues to be a rocky one. Why is he having second thoughts, and what does that do to his relationships with Hannah (Jessy Schram) and his son (Luigi Sottile)?

Frolov: Sean is now sober, wants to give his kidney. Hannah’s pushing for it. But Archer has this turmoil about accepting this gift from his son. He doesn’t feel worthy of it. He feels guilty. He didn’t see himself as a good father. So he’s going through a lot. It’s on him. It’s an emotional hesitation on his part.

Sharon was facing the hospital possibly being sold at the end of last season. Where do things stand now?

Schneider: Since it is six months down the line, we’ve resolved that issue. The hospital now has new owners, kind of a business consortium, and down the line that will prove to be a headache for her in some ways.

Maggie (Marlyne Barrett) was considering leaving Med at the end of last season and she wasn’t a fan of some of the changes that had been made. So how is she feeling about where the hospital is right now?

Frolov: She again had six months, so we’re not playing that she left, but the hospital is running better right now.

Schneider: Dayton [Sasha Roiz] is gone.

Frolov: So it’s not as erratic as it was.

Schneider: It’s more focused. Med is her home and it’s a place where she’s comfortable. So she did not leave.

How are Maggie and Ben (Charles Malik Whitfield) doing?

Frolov: Not well.

Schneider: Sorry to break the news. And there’ll be a bit of a bombshell in the first episode.

What are the primary issues?

Schneider: They were never actually able to get past the problems that they had last season.

Frolov: She lied quite a bit.

Schneider: She wasn’t upfront with him. She didn’t really ever realize or know about the depth of her feelings about her ex. That’s continued to gnaw on him.

We saw the problems with OR 2.0 last season, and that led to Will’s (Nick Gehlfuss, who left in the Season 8 finale) resignation. So how much of a pushback is there going to continue to be to ever use it again?

Frolov: Big pushback and in the first episode, we’ll find out that Crockett [Dominic Rains] has been working on 2.0, but he has not used it on a real patient, so it’s been a stimulation. He’s going to be forced more or less to have to try to use 2.0 in the first episode.

Schneider: It’s dicey.

Frolov: There’s a lot riding on it.

Will we see the lines being drawn in the sand, the staff on the opposite sides of that?

Schneider: Yes.

Are there any other significant new characters besides Ripley?

Frolov: Yes, we’re introducing a woman. Her name is Zola and she’s coming in in Episode 2, a new resident doctor, a young doctor,

Schneider: And she’s someone who will cause a lot of headaches for the chief of the ED Archer. She will overstep. She’s impulsive.

What are the chances of any past cast members coming back this season for a guest spot?

Frolov: Just our recurring. We’re not planning on bringing back any former regulars.

Schneider: Yeah, the former regulars that have left the show, we don’t have plans to bring them back, at least at this point. But what we do know is that Ethan [Brian Tee] and April [Yaya DaCosta] are still in Chicago, so they could certainly bring a patient in. That’s always a possibility.

Are there any new dynamics you’re exploring this season with any of the existing characters?

Frolov: Goodwin is going to have a romantic storyline. She’s also going to have some problems with her ex, Bert [Gregory Alan Williams].

Schneider: He has a big storyline.

Frolov: Hannah and Archer are really good buddies —

Schneider: — but friendship relationships can become romantic relationships.

What is your plan with that triangle? Even if it’s not a love triangle, there’s still a triangle when it comes to Hannah, Dean and his son.

Schneider: Right, but she doesn’t have any romantic feelings for Sean, and Sean has accepted that. The question is, what could or might happen between Archer and Hannah as their stories progress? Because there was some tension there.

What are the pros and cons you’re looking at when you’re looking at that potential relationship?

Frolov: We so like their being good friends. It’s a very nice relationship and it has a lot of different levels to it.

Schneider: So we wouldn’t jump to that.

Frolov: No, we don’t want to lose that, because whenever you jump into romance, it changes everything. So we like exploring where they are at the moment.

Is Hannah’s recovery something that we should be thinking about?

Schneider: She’s stable.

Frolov: But her past will influence storylines.

Schneider: It never goes away. It’s a part of who she is and people don’t say, “I’m cured.” They say, “I’m in recovery.”

What else can you tease about that new relationship for Sharon? Because I feel like if anyone needs a break away from the hospital, it’s her.

Schneider: Well, the problem is that it’s with someone in the hospital. It causes conflict about her role as the boss and having a relationship with someone who is really under her professionally.

Is this a new character or someone we’ve seen before?

Frolov: New character.

Will there be any major emergencies inside the hospital this season?

Schneider: We don’t have that just yet, but hey, it’s a good idea. [Both laugh]

Chicago Med, Season 9 Premiere, Wednesday, January 17, 8/7c, NBC