Maggie Lockwood is going through a difficult time on 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 has been at the center of plenty of drama — both in and out of the hospital.
Chicago Med Season 9 has involved major developments in both Maggie’s personal life and her professional one. 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 an apparently crashing helicopter! Here’s what has happened to Maggie so far in Season 9 and where she might be going next.
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.”
While Maggie’s primary role is to oversee the functioning of the Emergency Department by making sure doctors and other nurses get where they need to be and what they need, the series has found room to give her storylines of her own. She has been arrested, battled breast cancer, been pregnant and welcomed back 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 had been 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 entire 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 clearly making the most of it.
What Happened to Maggie and Ben on Chicago Med?
Fans Are Wondering How Their Marriage Fell Apart
During Maggie’s cancer storyline in Chicago Med Season 5, she met a fellow patient named Ben Campbell (played by Charles Malik Whitfield from the historically inspired American Horror Story: Roanoke). The two fell quickly in love with each other — as is the case in many One Chicago romances — and Maggie was even willing to risk her career for him. When it looked like Ben’s health was taking a turn for the worse after he contracted measles in Season 5, Episode 8, “Too Close to the Sun,” Maggie forged Dr. Natalie Manning’s signature on paperwork so that Ben could be released and spend his remaining time at home. Luckily for both of them, Ben recovered and there was no action taken against Maggie for a major ethics violation.
But the Maggie and Ben storyline appeared to have run its course, as in the Chicago Med Season 9 premiere, Maggie revealed that Ben had filed for divorce. That happened off-screen, with Ben’s final appearance coming in the next episode after a brief mediation attempt failed. The handful of episodes after that saw Maggie try to cope with the pending split, with other characters commenting on how much time she spends in the ED and even an emotional scene with Dr. Daniel Charles. But she has now moved on, with the divorce papers signed and a new love interest already on the horizon.
What Happened to Chicago Med’s Maggie and Loren?
Maggie’s New Relationship Got Off to a Rocky Start
Maggie had been growing closer with life flight pilot Dr. Loren Johnson (portrayed by Swamp Thing‘s Henderson Wade) even before getting her divorce papers notarized. Loren had made his first appearance during Season 8, and while both of them were clearly interested in one another romantically, it took 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 needed a nurse to assist him on one of his transplant flights and Maggie volunteered. Naturally, their helicopter went down — although at least it didn’t full-on crash like Theo’s flight did in Transplant.
Though the plane merely had a hard landing, that was enough to give Loren a severe injury. Part of the plane hit him on the way down, and since Maggie and Loren were in the middle of nowhere, the local search and rescue team took the entire episode to find them. Maggie was forced to treat Loren’s injuries on her own — with some guidance from Loren himself — while waiting for the team to arrive. Just before Loren lost consciousness, he confessed 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 admitted. Luckily, the rescue group showed up only a few moments later, and Loren was later shown doing much better in Chicago Med’s ED.
Now that they’re on the same page emotionally, the road is clear for Maggie and Loren to become a couple before the end of Chicago Med Season 9. It certainly looks like that will be the case, because the writers are increasing Loren’s presence around the hospital. The promotional spot shown at the end of Episode 10 revealed that Loren is performing surgery at Chicago Med, so he’s not just going to be popping in and out anymore. That not only develops his character, but makes it easier to set aside screen time for Maggie and Loren’s romance. While the end of her marriage to Ben may have happened somewhat suddenly, Maggie Lockwood has a promising future ahead of her — and the ED wouldn’t be the same without her.
