Dr. Caitlin Lenox hasn’t made many friends on Chicago Med. Since her introduction in the Season 10 premiere, Lenox has made clear that she doesn’t care if anyone likes her, which has seemingly extended to parts of the audience. The new co-head of the Emergency Department has been regularly butting heads with Dr. Dean Archer, questioning the decisions of the rest of her colleagues, and generally making things harder for everyone.
Lenox is brought to life by actor Sarah Ramos, whom audiences will recognize from her starring roles as Cheryl Pistono in Adam McKay’s show Winning Time and as Creek Lovell in Midnight, Texas. She spoke to CBR about returning to the NBC fold for Chicago Med, while revealing what she thinks of Dr. Lenox’s tenure so far. Plus, Ramos dished on working opposite Steven Weber as Archer and Lenox continue their entertaining battle across the ED.
CBR: Dr. Caitlin Lenox is established as a no-nonsense, even thorny character. What was it about her that made you excited to play her and come aboard Chicago Med?
Sarah Ramos: There’s so much that I like about Dr. Lenox. I was excited to play an antagonist-type role, which I knew Lenox was going to raise the stakes of what was going on in the ED and have some high standards that people were going to buck up against. And what has been both really fun and challenging has been to play an antagonist. I was like, it’s going to be so fun.
I think Lenox is doing a great job. She’s no bullshit. She has high standards and for good reason, and is challenging everyone to up their game. And people don’t like it. So the same things I was excited about, are the things that are kind of hard, because naturally as a person, you want people to be on your side and get where you’re coming from. And instead, our characters are butting heads a little.
Her biggest source of conflict is with Steven Weber’s character, Dr. Dean Archer. How would you describe the dynamic between the two characters?
I think it’s funny to do a generational rivalry. Millennial women in the workplace have come up against a man who’s a few decades their senior, who doesn’t like the way they do things and think that we should just do things their way. And I think that’s a fun dynamic to play — this gender and age rivalry where you’re like, how are we going to resolve this, when we both think we’re right and we each have different ways of doing things.
You’re going to learn a lot more about Lenox, so I won’t spoil anything there. But to me, Lenox is in a hard position. This hospital is under budget cuts. Lenox has been charged with meeting those budget cuts and making sure everything’s running efficiently. And she doesn’t know everybody. She’s been immediately challenged by somebody who’s supposed to be her peer, but who clearly hates her. She’s got a hard job to do. She’s really good at her job. And I think it’s a little easy to be bristled by that or to dislike her for that, but she’s just doing her job.
Fans have started to see Lenox branch out and interact with other characters, such as in Season 10, Episode 4, when you had a lot of scenes with Jessy Schram as Dr. Hannah Asher. Are there any other dynamics between Lenox and her new colleagues that were fun for you to play?
Yes. Maggie [Lockwood], played by Marlyne [Barrett], is hilarious. I think we have a funny dynamic. And the Asher of it all — the dynamic of these strong women in the ED is fun to me, and leads to some more comedic moments that I’m excited about.
You’re joining a TV show with 10 seasons of history, but Lenox doesn’t know or care about that because she comes from the recently closed Jackson-Monroe Hospital. So how much of Chicago Med did you familiarize yourself with? Or did you want to also come in as a total newbie?
I definitely watched some episodes, just to make sure I knew who people were. At least I knew Oliver Platt from doing The Bear [and] also in Chicago before this. But otherwise I did kind of want to keep it fresh, like I don’t really know what’s going on… I keep it drama-free. I’m all business.
Several of your major TV roles have been on NBC series, most notably playing Haddie Braverman in all six seasons of Parenthood, to name but one. What is it like for you to return to NBC as a lead on Chicago Med, and what are some of the things you’ve learned on this set so far?
I think it’s really fun. I’ve been doing NBC shows since I was 10 years old. My first big job was on a show called American Dreams . I did Parenthood . I did a show called Midnight, Texas . And I don’t think I’m forgetting one, but I’m back at the Peacock and I think it’s classy.
Those medical words are intense, for sure. The pronunciation is never what you think it’s going to be. I had to say a type of artery and I thought it was one thing… It goes in one ear and out the other, and you have to just focus on memorizing that pronunciation. And the only one I’ve learned is tachycardic, which means that your heart is beating fast.
I got to do an incision on a special effects stomach, which had fake blood underneath it [and] I needed to cut through multiple layers of skin and placenta. We only had one take. And I did make the cut, and that was very exciting.
