The One Chicago shows might not be back until the fall, but fans can enjoy seeing several One Chicago alums in Prime Video’s newest original series Spider-Noir.
The new series centers around Ben Reilly, a down-on-his-luck private investigator in the 1930s who also just so happens to be New York’s only superhero. The eight-episode first season starring Nicolas Cage is the perfect binge watch as summer arrives, and it just so happens to feature several familiar faces from the worlds of Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, and Chicago PD.
Leading the cast as a key member of the storyline is Li Jun Li who stars as Cat Hardy, a singer at the heart of the season’s core case who becomes romantically involved with Ben via a complicated love triangle. Li is best known for her turn in the Oscar-winning film Sinners, but One Chicago fans will recognize her from her role in Chicago PD.
Li played Officer Julie Tay in several episodes during the show’s fourth season, pairing with Marina Squerciati’s Officer Kim Burgess. While Tay only appeared in a few episodes, fans quickly fell in love with the pairing of Tay and Burgess and were disappointed when the show wrote the character out so suddenly via a storyline that saw her transferred to foot patrol after she refused to sleep with her superior.
While Trudy Platt tried to help Tay as much as possible, her efforts proved fruitless, and the character sadly never returned to the show. Thankfully, Li has enjoyed quite a successful run after leaving the show, with Spider-Noir giving her a chance to take center stage in a captivating new role.
Also appearing in Spider-Noir is actor Brian Howe, who plays Carmedy in the series. Funny enough, when we meet Carmedy he hires Ben to track down Li’s character under the guise that she is his wife and he fears she’s cheating on him. We come to learn that is not the case, as Carmedy isn’t who we thought he was.
On Chicago Fire, Howe played Nick Porter across seasons 5-8, a former firefighter who transitioned to selling fire equipment after his retirement from the CFD. While Nick was a minor character in the grand scheme of things, he played a key role in helping Cruz to launch his Slamigan into a successful business by using his fire equipment sales connections.
Rounding out the One Chicago connections fans will find in Spider-Noir is Chicago Med season 11 guest star Cary Christopher. The young actor has only just entered the business but is quickly building quite a resume. After playing a young patient with a rare psychological disorder in the fifth episode of Chicago Med season 11, Christopher recurs in Spider-Noir as Frankie, a young street kid who Ben takes under his wing.
While Spider-Noir is certainly a different vibe from the One Chicago shows, it's always fun when One Chicago alums pop up in new shows and Spider-Noir is certainly worth a watch this summer!
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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