Dr. Stevie Hammer’s absence from Chicago Med appears to be a permanent one: Her portrayer Kristen Hager has exited the NBC medical drama after half a season as a series regular, TVLine has confirmed.
Hager joined the show in the current seventh season’s premiere as a physician in the emergency department. She last appeared in Episode 14 in early March, during which Stevie reconciled with her bipolar mother and then decided to go to Michigan to give her marriage with her estranged husband another try. After sharing some will-they-or-won’t-they back and forth with Dr. Will Halstead, Stevie’s move effectively put an end to a potential relationship before it could even get off the ground. (In a subsequent episode, Will’s ex-girlfriend Hannah returned to the hospital, and her portrayer Jessy Schram will be a series regular moving forward.)
Although Stevie has left the Windy City, the door is open for her to return at some point. “Her story arc with her mother ended. But we all really liked Kristen and would welcome her character coming back in the future,” executive producers Andrew Schneider and Diane Frolov told TVLine in a statement.
In an interview with our sister site Variety, Frolov added: “What’s happening with Stevie right now is she’s going back to try and reconnect with her husband and make that work. So we’re leaving that up in the air. Does that in fact happen? She is a character that has the potential to return.”
Chicago Med returns with a new episode this Wednesday at 8/7c on NBC.
