Just when we thought it was looking like NBC might bring the One Chicago shows back early, the network went and surprised us by revealing Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, and Chicago PD won’t be back until October!
On June 24, NBC became the first network to unveil its fall lineup as it set premiere dates for its new and returning fall series, including the One Chicago trio. While many returning favorites will kick off their new seasons in late September, NBC has revealed Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, and Chicago PD will once again be held back to October. That’s right, we said October.
Thankfully, we won’t have to wait quite as long as fans of other NBC shows for new episodes of the One Chicago shows to begin. NBC has announced that Chicago Med season 12, Chicago Fire season 15, and Chicago PD season 14 will kick off on Wednesday, October 7.
This continues NBC’s trend of gradually pushing the One Chicago shows’ returns back further into the fall than we historically have seen. While the shows once arrived in the final weeks of September, we’ve noticed NBC has been pushing their return dates back little by little over the last several years, going from September 21 to September 25 to October 1, and now to October 7. (Note: this does not include the shows’ delayed return in the 2023-24 season when the One Chicago shows did not arrive until January due to the writers’ and actors’ strikes.)
It’s certainly disappointing to know that Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, and Chicago PD will not arrive until October, as it was really looking like a late September release was in the cards this year. Instead, we’re in for one of our longest summer hiatuses yet with 20 weeks between seasons thanks to the decision to wrap the shows’ latest seasons earlier in May and now delay their returns to the first week of October.
The good news is that while we’ll have a longer wait between seasons, the next seasons of Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, and Chicago PD will still be among the biggest season orders of the fall. Each show is slated to get 21 episodes, which is on the high side for broadcast originals these days, with many shows seeing their episodes slip down to the 10-18 range.
And it could be worse as NBC is holding its comedy slate for even longer. While Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, and Chicago PD will kick off their new seasons the first week of October, NBC won't premiere the new season of Happy's Place until the end of October, while St. Denis Medical and The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins won't be back until November!
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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