NEW AMSTERDAM: David Schulner on Max and Helen’s Possible Wedding, Plus the Hurricane That ‘Puts Everyone in a Dangerous Situation’

The penultimate episode of NEW AMSTERDAM’s fourth season concluded with most of the characters in a good place…so, naturally, a hurricane is heading their way in the season finale to shake things up. (The show will return for a fifth and final season this fall.)

But with a possible Max (Ryan Eggold) and Helen (Freema Agyeman) also on the horizon, what exactly is in store for the Tuesday, May 24 hour, “I’ll Be Your Shelter”? Executive producer David Schulner offered up a few teases…

Starting with last week’s episode for a second, when Max asked Helen to come home to get married, was he talking about them moving back to New York, permanently?
Just for the wedding. There’s still a lot to talk about for after the wedding.

As they move ahead with this quasi-elopement, are they planning for this to be legal given the quick turnaround? Or are they looking at this as a symbolic wedding?
I think in the last episode, Max just realized there’s so much to sort out in their lives, but the most important thing is them. And the most important thing was just committing to her in a way that only a wedding can do. And so I think Max was not concerned about a single thing other than just committing himself to her as a husband, a lover, and spending the rest of his life with her. And they would deal with all the logistical stuff at another time.

That sounds very Max-like.
[Laughs.] Right.

Of course, there’s also a hurricane coming. How does it end up impacting the hospital staff? 
Well it definitely impacts their wedding plans. They had a lovely outdoor wedding planned at the Botanical Gardens in New York. But this was something that was literally and figuratively not on the radar as the hurricane was set to hit the Carolinas and then changed course the last minute. So no one is prepared.

And that’s where we find all of our characters: Completely unprepared for what this is going to do. I think for Hurricane Sandy, Bellevue started prep like a week earlier, or at least days earlier, knowing that it was coming. And now everyone’s caught off guard.

How is everyone’s state of mind when this hits, given the trauma they’ve all been through on a personal and collective level the past few years?
I think most everyone—poor Iggy—finds themselves in a an upward trajectory after the last episode. Leyla and Bloom got back together. Max and Helen just ignored all the obstacles and decided to just get married immediately. Reynolds finds his father. Iggy’s the one who’s facing the real crisis. But after a year of struggling, we wanted to end everyone on this note of uplift—before the finale.

On a practical level, how dangerous is the hurricane for the doctors?
It’s dangerous, and it puts everyone in a dangerous situation. Iggy, physically. Max, mentally. Bloom is in close quarters with someone very dangerous, and there’s no way out. So everyone finds themselves in these mini-crises.

Outside of the hospital, Reynolds has been struggling for a while with both his impending fatherhood and issues stemming from his own father’s abandonment. How is he approaching this situation now, especially given we saw his father brushed him off last week?
I think he’s going into the situation hoping for the best, hoping for answers, hoping for a relationship, hoping for a role model or some sort of guidance. I think he’s hoping for a lot. And he’s been thinking about it for so long. How could he not have so many questions and so many wishes?

There’s a shot of Max in the trailer that makes it look like we may be headed for a rooftop wedding. Is there anything you can tease about that?
Well, it’s not what they planned. [After the hurricane,] someone might mention that there’s another place where Max and Sharpe might get married, and it’s just as magical for different reasons.

NEW AMSTERDAM, Tuesdays, 10/9c, NBC

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