The Chicago Med actor breaks down some of his character Dr. Mitch Ripley’s key relationships on the show and gives his take on the drama.
Dr. Mitch Ripley might be one of the newest emergency room doctors on Chicago Med, but his tragic childhood involving Dr. Daniel Charles and brewing chemistry with Dr. Hannah Asher have already made for plenty of drama in Season 9.
Actor Luke Mitchell, who plays Ripley, recently spoke to NBC Insider about his whirlwind experience with joining what he called a “tight-knit group of actors.”
“I probably don’t have the vocabulary to accurately describe the journey,” Mitchell said, noting it was a fast turnaround from his audition to being on set of the medical drama in Chicago. “You’re coming onto the ninth season of a very successful show.”
One of the major plots around Ripley this season has been the flirtatious exchanges between the doctor and Hannah (Jessy Schram) — though the pair hasn’t actually started dating.
Considering how many scenes the actors have together, it’s a good thing they also get along well in real life.
Luke Mitchell says he and Jessy Schram “giggle a lot” on the Chicago Med set
“We giggle a lot,” Mitchell said about working with Schram. “We have a lot of fun.”
Mitchell views his co-star as a “bright light” both as a human being and as an actress, he told NBC Insider.
“We take our jobs very seriously,” he said. “We want every scene [to be] as good as we can possibly make it… But we’re kind of like kids. We really enjoy ourselves as well and if there’s a laugh to be had, we’ll take it.”
In Season 9, Episode 4, someone who Hannah agreed to a date with later sent her an unsolicited risqué photo in a failed attempt to woo her. Instead, she noticed a lesion in the photo that she thought should be checked out, enlisting Ripley to do the honors.
“I absolutely loved it,” Mitchell said of first learning of that storyline when he read the script. “I’m like, this is hilarious. It’s a really fun moment and it’s nice to bring a bit of levity into a world where there’s a lot of drama and there’s a lot of heartache.”
Luke Mitchell suspects doctors Ripley and Charles’ “history isn’t going anywhere”
Early on in Season 9, it was revealed that Dr. Ripley was medicated decades ago with chemical restraints while in “county juvenile” under the supervision of Dr. Charles (Oliver Platt) as a boy. Now an adult peer and fellow doctor at Gaffney Chicago Medical Center, Ripley confronted Charles about his treatment in a prior episode. The doctors have been getting along recently, after that confrontation, but Mitchell thinks that wasn’t the last time their difficult past will come up.
“I think they’re doing a good job of learning to work together and slowly, but surely figuring each other out personally and professionally,” Mitchell said. “Their history isn’t going anywhere.”
Mitchell thinks that the pair working with difficult patients together has them “inching up slightly in the trust department.”
“I think each and every episode that Ripley and Dr. Charles work together, they are … building a bridge over the past and gaining respect for each other professionally,” Mitchell said of the troubled relationship.
Mitchell enjoys the “push and pull” dynamic between the pair and says that although they may be getting along in recent episodes, he suspects their past isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
“I don’t know if there is a necessarily a full resolution to that,” Mitchell said, noting the backstory is a huge part of who Ripley is.
Mitchell thinks Ripley poses a new kind of challenge for Dr. Charles.
“I don’t think he’s been challenged in this way,” Mitchell said. “It’s interesting and it’s going to continue to be interesting and I’d be shocked if the past doesn’t continue to pop its head up from time to time.”
Luke Mitchell reveals his favorite Chicago Med Season 9 patient so far
Mitchell also told NBC Insider who his favorite patient in this season of Chicago Med so far has been.
“It’s gotta be Jimmy,” Mitchell said, referring to the Season 9, Episode 5 patient who Ripley forms a bond with. “The lobotomized patient who comes in… trying to get help for his sister and it turns into this heartbreaking story. Just from the moment I read that script, it just rips my heart in two. So, being a part of that storyline and helping bring it to life and working with [the actor] who played Jimmy so well… that was a special episode for me.”
Catch Luke Mitchell in the latest episode of Chicago Med on Wednesday at 8/7c p.m. on NBC, or stream it the next day on Peacock.
