When it came time to cast Chicago Med’s new doctor, there was no doubt that Blindspot and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. vet Luke Mitchell was the man for the job.
“He gave a great audition, and he’s great looking, and he’s charming, and he’s a wonderful actor. Need we say more?” co-showrunner Andrew Schneider tells TVLine.
Mitchell joins the NBC drama in this Wednesday’s Season 9 premiere (airing at 8/7c) as Mitch Ripley, an Emergency Department doc who shares a complicated history with Dr. Daniel Charles.
“We have a really good backstory with him [and] Charles. So that’s coming into our storytelling, which we’re excited about,” co-showrunner Diane Frolov previews. “Charles knew him as an adolescent, and some things went bad in that relationship, and he definitely is carrying some resentment, and Charles is carrying some guilt.”
Ripley’s troubled past, which has shaped him into the man he is today, will cause problems for him in his new job at Gaffney Chicago Medical Center, especially when it comes to his dynamic with Charles.
“This a guy who had a very rough childhood, and those rough edges are still in the character,” Schneider describes.
Adds Frolov: “He’s very smart. He had a full scholarship to Columbia. He’s really an ace. But he grew up in Chicago, and, as Andy says, he had a very rough background.”
While things get off to a rocky start in his reunion with Charles, Ripley does fare better with the rest of the hospital staff.
“Nobody knows about his relationship with Charles except Charles. [To] everyone else, he’s this great doctor, charming guy,” Schneider says.
Ripley even forms “large positive connections” with his ED boss, Dr. Dean Archer, and colleague Dr. Hannah Asher, Schneider reveals, adding that there are potential romantic sparks between the newcomer and Jessy Schram’s OB-GYN.
