After quite the extended hiatus, “Chicago Med” is finally back with the start of Season 9. But while fans are no doubt excited to return to the Gaffney Chicago Medical Center and revisit all of its residents, there’s just one problem — the ending of the season hasn’t been written yet, at least as of the time of writing. In fact, roughly half of the season has still yet to be fleshed out by the show’s team, despite the first handful of episodes already releasing. That’s quite the tight turnaround for a TV show, but there’s a good reason why “Chicago Med” Season 9 is playing things extra close this time around.
On account of the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, production and development on the new season of “Chicago Med” — as well as the rest of the “One Chicago” shows — was temporarily halted. As a result, the show’s return was delayed to early 2024, and Season 9 was revised to have an abbreviated episode count of just 13 episodes, down from the usual 22 or so. While there are fewer episodes to produce this time around, executive producers Diane Frolov and Andre Schneider told Deadline that the team hasn’t mapped out the finale just yet. “We had to jump right into this and we didn’t have the lead-up to it that we normally do because of the strikes,” Frolov explained. “So we’re working it out.”
Production on Chicago Med Season 9 is proceeding quickly and smoothly
While Season 9 of “Chicago Med” hasn’t wrapped production quite yet, work on the remainder of the season appears to be proceeding at a solid pace. In their interview with Deadline, Diane Frolov and Andre Schneider noted that the smaller episode count has allowed the creative team to craft a particularly lean narrative. “We have to come to our season arcs more quickly because it’s a shortened season,” Schneider explained. “We’re not so much missing out on anything; it’s that we’re speeding up the process of getting to what our finale will be.”
The duo further explained that the current energy in the writers’ room of “Chicago Med” is high, as the team was refreshed by the extended hiatus and returned to their jobs with excitement. “It’s a whole different energy,” Frolov said. “Usually, at this time of year, everyone is tired because we’d have been working since May or July, depending.”
According to the duo, filming was underway for Episode 5 and prep was being made for the next one around the time the season premiere aired on NBC. Provided that episodes continue to be released at a weekly cadence and production of the remaining episodes proceeds accordingly, the season finale of “Chicago Med” should tentatively premiere on April 10. In the meantime, fans can read Looper’s exclusive interview with the “Chicago Med” showrunners to learn more about what Season 9 will entail.
