Chicago Med fans have been counting down the days until the season 12 premiere since the second the season 11 finale ended. It's that serious for us to get to that next chapter of the characters' stories, especially after Asher and Archer welcomed their baby girl, Ripley and Lenox cemented their relationship, and Goodwin found her job in severe jeopardy.
But leading up to the Chicago Med season 12 premiere on Wednesday, Oct. 7 on NBC, there have been few details shared about the upcoming episodes. The lack of updates pales in comparison to those coming out of Chicago Fire and Chicago PD, which have both added and lost cast members. Perhaps that's a good thing for Med. However, we do have intel on an upcoming guest star.
Gabrielle Carteris guest stars in the Chicago Med season 12 premiere
Beverly Hills, 90210 veteran Gabrielle Carteris revealed her guest starring role in Chicago Med season 12 with a photo on Instagram. The actress and former Screen Actors Guild president posed for a selfie in front of the medical drama's 200th episode banner and tagged the series. But Carteris didn't divulge any details about her role, though the showrunner dropped more hints.
Speaking with Give Me My Remote about the Chicago Med season 12 premiere, showrunner Allen MacDonald confirmed that Carteris will guest star in the episode and play the mother of a groom in a doomed wedding. According to the show's boss, the season 12 premiere episode centers on a shooting that occurs at a wedding. But whose wedding? He didn't specify.
On Carteris guest starring in the season 12 opening, MacDonald said, "She’s awesome. She is [playing] an overbearing mother with a very complicated relationship with her son. She’s basically the mother of the groom in this wedding scenario."
Carteris previously starred as Andrea Zuckerman in Beverly Hills, 90210 for the Fox teen drama's first five seasons, appearing again as a guest in additional seasons. She's appeared in various television series and movies over the years, including reuniting with her iconic cast members for the meta-reboot BH90210 in 2019. Chicago Med marks her first TV role since guest starring in 911 in 2022.
Chicago Med season 12 begins with a multi-month time jump after the season 11 finale, which could point toward the potential that a main cast member might be getting married, but don't hold your breath. MacDonald remained mum on the possibility of the show's main characters (or even supporting characters) being involved in the wedding, so it could simply be a story of the week.
What's even more curious, though not surprising, is that the entire season 12 premiere takes place entirely in the emergency department, which means we won't see the wedding take place (an major indication that it doesn't involve a main character). Not seeing the emergency event happening and taking place completely in the hospital isn't out of the ordinary for Chicago Med.
The circumstances surrounding Carteris' role remain curious. As Chicago Med fans know, certain season 11 guest stars who seemed to have only one episode as a patient of the week popped back up in other episodes later on in the season. Given Carteris' stature as a TV star, it's possible that could be the case here, but if not, the series nabbed quite the iconic guest star for the premiere.
Chicago Med showrunner hints we've seen the last of one of the show's most disliked characters
The final episodes of Chicago Med season 11 took an unexpectedly darker turn for Dr. John Frost as the season revisited his traumatic experiences growing up as a child actor and his rocky relationship with his parents, who failed to protect him. It all began when Frost’s parents, James and Celeste, showed up in town hoping to reconnect with their understandably estranged son.
Frost would eventually agree to meet with his parents, and he came to learn that his father’s health was in decline due to his MS diagnosis. As the season progressed, Frost would come to learn that his father was not suffering from MS, but rather he had a tumor on his spine which was causing MS-like symptoms. He’d also come to learn that his dad knew about the tumor but didn’t explore treatment out of fear.
By the time Frost found out the truth, his father was no longer eligible for a medical trial which could provide treatment designed to shrink the tumor. Despite their fractured relationship, Frost didn’t want to give up on his dad and agreed to sign on for a Nick of Time reboot series in order to make the money needed to pay for his father’s expensive treatment.
It was clear from the start that Frost did not want to return to acting, but it was a means to an end to make the money needed for his father’s treatment. He was all set to proceed with the project until the reboot’s producer surprised him at lunch with the news that Ainsley, the woman who played his mom on the show and took advantage of Frost as a teen, had been added to the cast.
Upon learning the news, Frost chose to walk away from the reboot which was when he’d come to find out that his father knew about his relationship with Ainsley and never stepped in to protect him. Instead, he turned a blind eye. This led to another fallout between Frost and his father, one that was short-lived as Frost would learn in the penultimate episode of the season that his dad’s treatments were not working and he’d been moved to hospice care.
The season finale saw Frost make peace with his father as he stayed with him through his final hours and remained at his side until his father passed as the finale came to a close.
Jessalyn Gilsig not expected to return for Chicago Med season 12
Needless to say, the back half of the season was particularly trying for Frost in many ways, but it was one that allowed the show to close the book on the past as the show focuses on how Frost will move forward. With the closing of this book, Chicago Med showrunner Allen MacDonald seemed to indicate that we’ve seen the last of a character that quickly became one of the show’s most disliked characters: Ainsley.
While you can truly never say never in the world of television, MacDonald appears to have all but confirmed we’ve seen the last of Ainsley on Chicago Med. In speaking with Parade following the finale, MacDonald noted that while they’ll always make reference to Frost’s past and to Nick of Time and Ainsley, specifically, they’ve closed the book on that—seeming to hint that while Ainsley might come up in conversation, she won’t be popping back up on the show directly.
“There’s a weight lifted off his shoulders. I think the past has always been something he’s run away from, that he thought he didn’t need to deal with it but it was actually weighing him down more because he wasn’t. We’ve spent the last two seasons with him slowly confronting the past and growing from the processing of it, and now I believe next season he’s going to move on,” MacDonald revealed. “There will be other challenges next season for Dr. John Frost, but as far as the past and Nick of Time and Ainsley, those are things we’ll always make reference to, but I feel like we’re closing the book on that, on the past, and now he’s going to move forward.”
As much as we love Jessalyn Gilsig, who was phenomenal in the role of Ainsley, it does make sense for her appearance in season 11, episode 19, “Exit Strategies," to serve as her final episode on the show.
Frost will surely continue to unpack the events of his past in the new season as he works on his relationship with his mom following his father’s death, but we don’t need to see Ainsley back again as it’s time the show began to allow Frost to reclaim his future and move forward. Thankfully, that seems to be the plan, and we’re certainly eager to see what season 12 will bring for Frost as he begins this new chapter in his story!
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