Look, I’ll be the first one to say I cheered at the news that Nick Gehlfuss, who played Dr. Will Halstead from Chicago Med‘s first episode through the show’s Season 8 finale, would be returning as a guest star for Season 11. You know that “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in” gif from The Godfather III? That was literally me.
But, but, considering that we last saw him in Seattle, with Dr. Natalie Manning (Torrey DeVitto) and her son Owen, forgive me if I’m also a little concerned about what this means for Will’s on-screen happy ending. You know, the one we saw and cheered on after he left the show.
Now, it’s a little early in the process. We don’t know how long Will will be back, or why he’s even back. We don’t know if we might see Natalie again, too. (Pretty, please). What we do know is that showrunner Allen MacDonald was thinking about who he could bring back since before last year’s finale even aired, telling TVGuide, “I think that Chicago Med and the stories we told in Season 10 are very much in the present, and we focus on all our series regulars. But in this huge One Chicago world, I think it’s really fun to bring people back and check in on them.”
Seems like the first one we’ll be checking on is Will Halstead. And that’s fine! Not just that, it’s great. As long as that doesn’t mean ruining the happy ending we’d already gotten for Manstead.
One Chicago has, after all, given us far too little in the way of endgames, and Chicago Med has hurt us time and time again. In fact, all of our endgames on this show have pretty much been the Will and Natalie type endgames, two characters who are leaving the show ending up together. And you know what? We’ll take it. It’s much better than the alternative.
So yes, let’s bring Will back. He can tell us that he and Natalie got married. Jay attended. Hey, while we’re at it, maybe Jay and Hailey also reconnected off-screen! The four of them met up in the magical land that is Seattle. The Halstead brothers are now happy away from the Windy City.
Okay, fine, that might be taking it a bit too far. But don’t take Manstead away from me, please. Just don’t.
Chicago Med returns to NBC on October 1st.
