We’ll have to wait all summer to find out what happens next on Chicago Med, but at least it won’t be as long as the last hiatus.
Chicago Med Season 9 ended with some cliffhangers that made our jaws drop, including a question about whether one character will be coming back.
We don’t know much about what Season 10 will bring, but one thing’s for sure: it’ll involve a double helping of drama.
Chicago Med focuses on an ensemble of doctors, but each has a particular role. When Will Halstead was the lead doctor, he was a rebel with a cause, constantly breaking the rules for the right reason.
Now that Halstead is gone, the focus shifted during Season 9 to a few new characters.
Ripley was a new doctor with a traumatic past, and for a while, Marcel had to deal with Zola, a Halstead-like resident who was constantly doing whatever she felt was right, even if it caused trouble for everyone.
Zola is long gone, but Ripley’s sticking around, though he could be in serious trouble, and there’s also plenty of drama ahead for charge nurse Maggie Lockwood, OBGYN Hannah Asher, and the rest of the doctors at Med.
Let’s examine what we know about Chicago Med Season 10 so far. (Bookmark this post; we will update it as we have more information.)
Has Chicago Med Been Renewed?
Yes! Chicago Med was renewed in March 2024, along with the other two Chicago shows.
NBC’s decision to renew Med was unsurprising, considering that the series regularly earned high ratings and kicked off One Chicago Wednesdays.
It’s hard to believe, but this renewal means Med will air for a 10th season. Has this series been on for almost a decade already?
Will Chicago Med Do Anything Special for its 10th Season?
Ten years is a long time, but Med hasn’t announced any intention to do anything special for this anniversary. It pales compared to the 26 years that Law & Order: SVU will have been on the air, but still.
10 is a milestone, and we hope some special episodes are planned.
The cast has remained remarkably stable over the past decade, though some visits from long-gone characters such as Sarah Reese and cameos by those who departed recently wouldn’t be a bad idea.
What Happened at The End of Chicago Med Season 9?
Chicago Med Season 9 ended with a heartbreaking story for Marcel and a cliffhanger for Ripley.
Ripley spent the season finale trying and failing to get help for an aging prisoner who now had dementia.
The prisoner was doing a life sentence for a murder 50 years ago and had been accompanied to Med by a guard who had no sympathy for him and was adamant that he was faking his symptoms.
Testing proved that this was false and that the man had brain atrophy consistent with dementia. However, the attorney general told Sharon (off-screen) that she couldn’t risk being seen as soft on crime by allowing the man to be transferred to an appropriate facility.
Ripley blew up at Charles about this, causing Charles to declare he was done with him, but there was more trouble ahead for him. Troublemaker Pawel was admitted to the hospital again after being beaten with a baseball bat… and Pawel claimed Ripley was responsible.
Meanwhile, Marcel had a hard time dealing with it when he learned that not only had Colin, the young patient in need of a liver transplant from Chicago Med Season 9 Episode 12, passed away, but the boy’s father had killed himself shortly afterward.
Finally, Sean had it out with Archer after Archer disposed of a bag of drugs a patient had swallowed instead of turning the drugs over to the police.
Sean claimed Archer was nicer to the patient than he had been to him, and he didn’t think people sobered up unless they had spent time in jail.
Then he stormed off, mad at the world, especially at his father, leaving Archer at a loss for what to do next.
What Storylines Can We Expect on Chicago Med Season 10?
Ripley’s story will probably take center stage, at least during the first part of the season.
He can’t work at Med until his name is cleared.
There’s no real reason that anyone should believe Pawel, but Chicago Med will probably use the tired TV trope of everyone trusting the word of someone untrustworthy over someone else’s claims of innocence.
Ripley probably won’t do anything to help himself because he thinks his BFF Scully did the deed.
There may be a plot twist here, and Scully isn’t guilty either, despite all his talking about how he’d “take care” of the problem for Ripley.
That could lead to tension between the friends and conflict between Ripley and Charles. Charles likely doesn’t believe Pawel, but he washed his hands of Ripley, so he may not be eager to defend him, either.
Meanwhile, it’s not clear what’s going on with Marcel. He’s depressed over the death of these patients, but will he push through as best as he can or take a leave of absence from Med?
He took himself off the surgical schedule once, asking Tanaka-Reed to take over for him.
Marcel has been headed for a breakdown for a while. He also blamed himself for Zola’s bad behavior (with an assist from Archer, who should have kept his ridiculous opinion to himself) and micromanaged Tanaka-Reed.
The big question is whether Marcel will leave Chicago Med. So far, there’s been no news about that, but he seemed to be hanging on by a thread.
Which Cast Members are Returning for Chicago Med Season 10?
As far as we know, all principal cast members are returning.
NBC had cast members rotate during Season 9 as a cost-saving measure rather than featuring every character in every story, so they may do the same during Season 10.
As of now, the following cast members are returning:
- Dominic Rains as Dr. Crockett Marcel
- Oliver Platt as Dr. Daniel Charles
- Luke Mitchell as Dr. Mitch Ripley
- Jessy Schram as Dr. Hannah Asher
- Steven Weber as Dr. Dean Archer
- Marlyne Barrett as Nurse Maggie Lockwood
- S Epatha Merkerson as Ms. Sharon Goodwin
We will probably also again get Sam Abrams, Peter from the hospital board, and various residents as recurring characters and various guest stars will play patients.
A New Writing Team Will Take Over Chicago Med
For the past nine years, Chicago Med’s writing team has been led by Diane Frolov and Andy Schneider, but this team has stepped down.
Instead, Allen McDonald will take over head writing duties. McDonald recently served as a showrunner for Amazon Prime’s Harlan Coben’s Shelter.
It’s hard to predict what having a new showrunner means for Chicago Med. Every writing and producing team has its own ideas about what stories to focus on and what direction to take the show in.
Will There Be Crossovers With Other One Chicago Shows?
Although there were no crossovers with the other Chicago shows during Season 9, there’s no reason this couldn’t happen during the new season.
In the past, there have been crossover events where a story stretches over all three Chicago shows. That hasn’t happened as much in recent years because of COVID concerns, but it might still be possible as restrictions continue to ease.
Even if there aren’t complete crossovers, there might be opportunities for cameo appearances.
It was disappointing that Chicago PD Season 11 Episode 13 used random doctors to treat Voight and Upton instead of any of the characters from Med, so let’s hope they rectify that in the new season!
When Will Chicago Med Season 10 Premiere?
We don’t have an exact premiere date yet, but we will update this post as soon as we have one.
The newest season will most likely premiere toward the end of September, as it does most years. (The obvious exception is the shortened season due to the writers’ strikes, which did not premiere until January 2024.)
