When it comes to long-running broadcast procedural dramas, fans have to become somewhat accustomed to cast members coming and going. Chicago Med happens to fall under that umbrella, and after a over a decade on the air, viewers have seen a number of favorites come and go. But if you stick around long enough, we're sometimes lucky enough to see some returns.
Like Chicago Fire season 14's various comings and goings, Chicago Med season 11 also hosted a number of notable cast exits and returns, especially some big ones right out the gate that left fans stunned. Throughout the season, some characters were given their final farewell, while other were either seen for the first time or came back after an extended absence.
Chicago Med season 11 character exits and returns
As Chicago Med fans know, Marlyne Barrett left the series after 10 seasons playing Gaffney's charge nurse Maggie Lockwood. Barrett's departure was announced before season 11 premiered, and the character was never formally written out. Maggie's absence still hasn't been explained with an actual reason and she was only mentioned in the season in a meaningful way two times.
It's unclear if Barrett, one of the last three original cast members who remained on the series, will ever return to reprise her character or if season 12 plans to address Maggie's exit with more permanence. However, in Maggie's absence, Chicago Med kicked off season 11 with a bang to make up for her loss with the returns of original characters Will Halstead and Natalie Manning.
Nick Gehlfuss returning for a guest appearance was announced before season 11 began, but Torrey DeVitto coming back was kept quiet until she made a surprise cameo at the end of the season's second episode, which was the 200th episode of Chicago Med. Halstead and Manning were part of a two-episode arc that's by far among some of the series' best storytelling.
Obviously, Halstead and Manning's triumphant homecoming to Gaffney is a tough act to follow, but Chicago Med season 11 also featured some other character return, though they might not have been quite as big. Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut came back as Dr. Naomi Howard after seemingly being written out after last season. Hope Lauren appeared as Ripley's friend Lynne Murphy and Jessalyn Gilsig reprised her role as Frost's past costar Ainsley Towne.
Unfortunately, along with all of these returns there were also exits. While we were reunited with Goodwin's kids for the first time in a long time, it wasn't for a particularly fun reason. The family gathered together to say goodbye to Bert as Gregory Alan Williams departed the series from his recurring role. Frost also lost his father James, who was played by David Costabile.
Hopefully, we won't have to endure quite as many character exits in Chicago Med season 12. We aren't expecting any major shakeups, and none have been announced ahead of the season. Instead, let's manifest some exciting cast returns that revival those from last season!
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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