Chicago Med Season 9 Halted as Its Actors’ Strike: Here’s How Long You’ll Have to Wait For New Episodes
We finally have new information about when the much-anticipated new season of Chicago Med will air amid the Hollywood strikes. When does Chicago Med return for Season 9? Read on to see how long you’ll have to wait for new episodes.
Chicago Med is NBC’s medical drama following the personal and professional lives of doctors and nurses in the emergency department of the fictional Gaffney Chicago Medical Center. The series — which premiered in 2015 and is created by Dick Wolf, the same mind behind the Law & Order and FBI franchises — is the third spin-off in NBC’s One Chicago franchise, which also includes Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D.
The successful medical show was renewed for Season 9, which was originally slated to premiere in the fall of 2023. But the ongoing writers’ and actors’ strikes made that timeline impossible (especially when production could not start in mid-July like in previous years). Instead, the actors and crew of Chicago Med are ceasing production and are at the picket lines advocating for higher compensation, AI regulations and more.
On July 13, 2023, the national board of the Hollywood actors’ union SAG-AFTRA approved to strike. The union represents 160,000 television and movie actors. During the strike, actors are not allowed to work union jobs, promote their respective films and shows, attend press junkets, premieres and more. The actors’ strike comes two months after the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) began striking on May 2, 2023. The demands requested by the actors and writers are similar: They want better compensation for TV shows and movies, higher residual payments for their work on streaming services and regulations on artificial intelligence.
Many Chicago Med stars have voiced their support for the strike on social media. Steven Weber, who plays Dr. Dean Archer, has been especially active on Instagram. “I have acted alongside background artists (formerly referred to as “extras”) for the 40 years I have been fortunate enough to work as an actor (and been a background artist myself),” he wrote in one of many Instagram posts about the strike. “It can be fun and engaging but it is mostly a challenging job requiring extreme patience and skill. Background artists are essential to television and film production. It is truly incomprehensible that ‘management’ is putting every human element it can find in the crosshairs in order to maximize profit.”
He continued: “It’s cruel, stupid and a bad business model, except if your business is a goddamn pyramid scheme. And guess what: this will not be confined to the entertainment industry. AI should be used for scientific purposes, to explore space, to figure o
Many Chicago Med stars have voiced their support for the strike on social media. Steven Weber, who plays Dr. Dean Archer, has been especially active on Instagram. “I have acted alongside background artists (formerly referred to as “extras”) for the 40 years I have been fortunate enough to work as an actor (and been a background artist myself),” he wrote in one of many Instagram posts about the strike. “It can be fun and engaging but it is mostly a challenging job requiring extreme patience and skill. Background artists are essential to television and film production. It is truly incomprehensible that ‘management’ is putting every human element it can find in the crosshairs in order to maximize profit.”
He continued: “It’s cruel, stupid and a bad business model, except if your business is a goddamn pyramid scheme. And guess what: this will not be confined to the entertainment industry. AI should be used for scientific purposes, to explore space, to figure out how to deal with pollution, to cure cancer, whatever. Not to take away people’s livelihoods.”
ut how to deal with pollution, to cure cancer, whatever. Not to take away people’s livelihoods.”
