Brian Tee made his final appearance as Dr. Ethan Choi on Chicago Med in the Season 8 midseason finale. What is Brian Tee doing after leaving Chicago Med? Find out what the actor’s been up to below.
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. Created by Dick Wolf, the series is the third spin-off in the One Chicago franchise, which also includes Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D. It first premiered in 2015 and is currently on its 9th season.
Brian Tee starred on the first eight seasons of Chicago Med as Dr. Ethan Choi, a former Navy flight medic and the Chief of Emergency Medicine at Gaffney. He left during Season 8, shortly after Ethan and April Sexton (Yaya DaCosta), a former Emergency Department nurse, reconnected and got married. The couple went on to start a community medical outreach program together called DOCS on Wheels.
Of his departure, Tee told Deadline at the time: “Playing Dr. Ethan Choi on Chicago Med has been such a gift and a blessing. I am forever grateful to our fans and my colleagues both in front of and behind the camera as I embark on a new journey. I am forever indebted to Dick Wolf, NBC, and Universal Television for choosing me. He continued, “What we’ve been planning for Dr. Choi’s sendoff is fitting, and it’s beautiful. I think the fans are going to absolutely love it. It’s going to bring a little bit of the new Ethan and a little bit of the old. Know that episode 9 is going to be an amazing one.”
Tee was candid about why he chose to leave the series, explaining that he wanted pursue other opportunities as an actor, producer and budding director. He returned to Chicago Med later that season to direct an episode, but he has yet to reprise his role as Ethan Choi. His acting days are far from over, though. Read on to see where you can see Brian Tee on-screen.
What is Brian Tee doing after leaving Chicago Med?
Brian Tee has kept very busy since leaving Chicago Med in 2022. He starred alongside Nicole Kidman in the 2023 Amazon Prime Video series Expats. He booked the role of Clarke Woo way back in 2021 and actually missed much of Season 7 of Chicago Med due to his filming schedule. The show debuted several years later on January 26, 2024.
Tee has also taken on other acting projects since officially leaving Chicago Med. On September 25, 2024, Variety reported that Tee had joined the cast of Kathryn Bigelow‘s next movie at Netflix, however no details beyond the casting had been revealed. The title and plot are unknown, with Deadline reporting “it will be set at the White House as a national crisis unfolds.” Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Jared Harris, Greta Lee, Anthony Ramos, Tracy Letts, Moses Ingram, and Gabriel Basso will star in the movie.
The actor is also set to star in the upcoming Season 3 of Reacher, which is led by Alan Ritchson. According to Deadline, he will portray Quinn, who is described as a physically imposing and intimidating character. He was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army whom Reacher (Ritchson) investigated ten years ago when he sold military secrets to hostile nations. Thanks to his turn as Ethan Choi, Tee already has experience portraying a lieutenant and working in a high-stakes environment, so the role sounds right up his alley. He will be joined by three other newcomers, including Johnny Berchtold and Roberto Montesinos, who have joined the cast as series regulars, and Daniel David Stewart, who will recur.
In addition to Reacher, Tee also returned to Chicago Med to direct the 11th episode of Season 9, which marked his second-ever directing credit. The episode was filmed in late March 2024 and premiered in late Spring. As for if he will ever appear on-screen and reprise his role, he told NBC Insider in April 2023: “I leave the door always open.”
“So as far as story, and what it would take, it’s hard to say because my heart will still always be on that set with the people that I’ve worked with,” he continued. “So in that context, you know, if there ever is an opportunity to come back and again, play with my friends, I absolutely would probably jump at the opportunity.”
Chicago Med airs on NBC on Wednesdays, at 8 p.m. EST and streams on Peacock.
