Maggie Lockwood is going through a difficult time at Chicago Med. One of the longest-tenured characters on the NBC medical show, Maggie (played by actor Marlyne Barrett) normally helps everyone else when they’re in trouble. But particularly during Season 9, she was at the center of plenty of drama — both in and out of the hospital.
Chicago Med Season 9 involved major developments in Maggie’s personal and professional life. Some One Chicago fans were even worried she might be killed off after the teaser for Chicago Med Season 9, Episode 10, “You Just Might Find You Get What You Need,” showed Maggie on board a crashing helicopter! Here’s what happened to Maggie so far in Season 9 and where she might be going next.
Updated on August 15, 2024, by Christopher Raley: Chicago Med has just completed its ninth season and is renewed for a 10th. One of the popular longstanding characters, Maggie Lockwood, has gone through several changes, but things may be looking up for her. This article has been updated with new information about Season 9 and now conforms to CBRs current publishing standards.
Who Is Maggie Lockwood on Chicago Med?
She’s One of the Last Remaining Original Characters
Maggie Lockwood is the charge nurse at Chicago Gaffney Medical Center — the one who oversees the rest of the nurses and keeps the hospital’s Emergency Department running as smoothly as possible. She also has the distinction of being one of the few characters who remains from Chicago Med‘s first season, though, she wasn’t technically a series regular at the beginning. Actor Marlyne Barrett was billed as a guest star during the show’s first 13 episodes before being promoted to the main credits in Season 1, Episode 14, “Hearts.”
- In “Derailed” in Season 1, Maggie helps the ER coordinate treatment for a big influx of patients due to a train derailment.
- In “Guilty” from the same season, Maggie gets arrested for obstructing justice because she didn’t perform an alcohol blood test on a patient against his will.
While Maggie’s primary role is to oversee the Emergency Department by making sure doctors and other nurses get what they need and where they need to be, the series found room to give her storylines of her own. She has been arrested, battled breast cancer, been pregnant, and reunited with family members — including the daughter she gave up for adoption, Vanessa Taylor, who briefly worked at Chicago Med. In real life, Barrett told People in 2022 that she was diagnosed with ovarian and uterine cancer, several years after Maggie’s cancer storyline.
In a fun bit of trivia, Marlyne Barrett has a long connection to Dick Wolf-produced TV series. Her second TV role in her career was a 2005 episode of Law & Order, playing Alana Sinclair in the episode “Obsession.” She went on to be one of the many recognizable guest stars on Law & Order, appearing as a different character (a defense attorney) in “Murder Book and Tango,” while popping up in two installments of Law & Order: SVU and even the short-lived spinoff Law & Order: Trial by Jury. Chicago Med, however, is her first leading role on a Dick Wolf show — and she’s making the most of it.
How Does Maggie Meet Ben on Chicago Med?
The Two Fall in Love During Her Cancer Arc
During Maggie’s cancer storyline in Chicago Med Season 5, she meets a fellow patient named Ben Campbell (played by Charles Malik Whitfield from American Horror Story: Roanoke). The two fall quickly in love with each other — as is the case in many One Chicago romances — and Maggie is even willing to risk her career for him.
- In Season 5, Maggie refuses to take her cancer treatment sitting down and pushes herself hard at work.
- While she tries to keep her cancer diagnosis hidden from colleagues, she is seen in the chemotherapy ward and eventually reveals her condition to some coworkers.
When it looks like Ben’s health is taking a turn for the worse after he contracted measles in Season 5, Episode 8, “Too Close to the Sun,” Maggie forges Dr. Natalie Manning’s signature on paperwork so that Ben can be released and spend his remaining time at home. Luckily for both of them, Ben recovers and no action is taken against Maggie for a major ethics violation. Maggie and Ben are married in Chicago Med Season 5, Episode 17, “The Ghosts of the Past,” which is just ten episodes after they met. It also happens to be the show’s 100th episode.
What Happens To Maggie and Ben’s Marriage
Their Marriage Doesn’t Survive the Trouble Coming Its Way
Maggie and Ben have a happy marriage through most of Seasons 6 and 7, but in Season 8, they face some trouble. Once Vanessa was introduced to the show, Maggie’s past was in the Emergency Department with her every day. Not only does Maggie help Vanessa with a drug test, but she also agrees to assist Vanessa in meeting her biological father, Grant.
- Initially, Maggie tries to keep an emotional distance between her and her daughter.
- But she ends up comforting Vanessa after the first time she declares a patient dead.
In another typical One Chicago plot twist, Grant’s return reignites sparks between him and Maggie. The two of them almost kiss before being involved in a car accident. Maggie hides both of these things from Ben, who is understandably upset when the information comes out anyway.
But the Maggie and Ben storyline appears to have run its course, as in the Chicago Med Season 9 premiere, Maggie reveals that Ben has filed for divorce. That happens off-screen, with Ben’s final appearance coming in the next episode after a brief mediation attempt fails. The handful of episodes after that find Maggie trying to cope with the pending split, while other characters comment on how much time she spends in the ED. There’s even an emotional scene with Dr. Daniel Charles. But she moves on, with the divorce papers signed and a new love interest already on the horizon.
What Happens to Chicago Med’s Maggie and Loren?
Maggie’s New Relationship Gets Off to a Rocky Start
Maggie was growing closer to life flight pilot Dr. Loren Johnson (portrayed by Swamp Thing‘s Henderson Wade) even before her divorce papers were notarized. Loren made his first appearance during Chicago Med Season 8, and while both of them were interested in one another romantically, it takes being on a helicopter together for the situation to come to a head.
In Chicago Med Season 9, Episode 10, “You Just Might Find You Get What You Need,” Loren needs a nurse to assist him on one of his transplant flights, and Maggie volunteers. Naturally, their helicopter goes down — although at least it doesn’t full-on crash as Theo’s flight did in Transplant. It’s more like an emergency landing, but that’s enough to give Loren an internal injury.
- Loren was injured by a seatbelt jamming into his ribs when the helicopter hit the ground.
- When Maggie realizes that Loren is bleeding into his chest, she uses some materials from a Cordis kit to create a chest tube to drain the blood.
Since Maggie and Loren are in the middle of nowhere, the local search and rescue team takes the entire episode to find them. Maggie is forced to treat Loren’s injuries, with some guidance from Loren himself. Just before Loren loses consciousness, he confesses his feelings to Maggie, saying that he had been attracted to her for a long time, while she was still married to Ben. “I kept waiting for the right moment to ask you out,” he admits. Luckily, the rescue group shows up, and Loren is later shown doing much better in Chicago Med’s ED.
What Is In Store For Maggie’s Future?
Will Her Romance Continue To Flourish?
Now that they’re on the same page emotionally, the road is clear for Maggie and Loren to become a couple, but there is a twist for them in Chicago Med Season 9. After the helicopter emergency landing, Loren still feels some pain in his chest. After an X-ray reveals that he has fractured ribs, he tries to keep the truth from his colleagues so as not to be disqualified from a fellowship. However, during surgery, Loren struggles to take care of his patient because of pain.
- Seeing that Loren is struggling, Dr. Archer tells him to sit this surgery out.
- Dr. Archer admits to Loren that he has pushed himself too hard as well, but that Loren needs to learn to take care of himself.
While it certainly looks like Maggie and Loren are off to a good start, the question hanging over Loren’s future with the hospital has yet to be answered. As for Maggie, the end of her marriage to Ben may have happened somewhat suddenly, but she has a promising future ahead of her — and the ED wouldn’t be the same without her.
