CHICAGO MED: Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider Preview Chexton’s ‘Perfect Ending’

As CHICAGO MED prepares to say goodbye to Brian Tee’s Ethan Choi, showrunners Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider were immediately clear with how they wanted to write out the beloved character.

“We wanted a very honorable exit,” Frolov tells Give Me My Remote. “Something that was happy, fulfilling.”

“We wanted to keep him happy and alive, and with the possibility that he could reappear,” adds Schneider.

To that end, the writers reunited Ethan with his on-off love April (Yaya DaCosta, who departed the show at the end of season 6), and the duo will tie the knot in the Wednesday, December 7 episode, “This Could Be The Start of Something New.”

“Marrying April was the perfect ending to his long journey,” Schneider says. “And for her as well. It gave closure to this relationship that was sort of left hanging [when DaCosta exited the show].”

Prior to the duo tying the knot, viewers got to see a bit of their reunion play out, starting with their first time seeing each other post-split in the season 8 premiere.

“From the first episode, where she appears at his father’s grave, it was like, ‘Oh my god, it’s magical. It’s so emotional,'” Schneider recalls of seeing Tee and DaCosta working together again. “You know these [characters], you have watched them go through ups and downs, and [are now] seeing possibility of a great new life.”

“It was great and it was lovely to see the two of them together when we would watch dailies,” adds Frolov. “It was a real privilege to get her back and to be able to do.”

As a bonus? “Both actors were very enthusiastic about the storyline,” Schneider shares.

Of course, the loss of Tee as a regular shakes up the cast dynamic. (Guy Lockard and Asjha Cooper also left the show earlier in the season.)

“It’s hard to lose people, because we get attached to them,” Schneider acknowledges. “But it’s also creatively invigorating, because you have new interactions, you have new social dynamics, you have new problems, and backstories that you can spin stories out of.”

“We consult a lot of [real-life] doctors, and we hear their stories of their time in the hospital,” adds Frolov. “So it gives us different points of views. We can express some of those things that we hear about by having these various characters, these different residents coming in.”

Going forward, ​​”we’re leaning on the characters we currently have,” Schneider teases. “But we’re also going to be bringing in some new characters to deal with [new challenges] coming into the hospital.”

One new character coming in—albeit shaking things up in a non-medical way—is Alet Taylor’s Liliana Wapniarski, who catches Charles’ (Oliver Platt) eye.

“She’s very different from him,” Schneider previews. “She doesn’t enjoy the status that he enjoys in the hospital, but she’s a creative person. She’s a singer. She loves art. She’s really smart. She knows history. So she’s a challenge for Charles, and she’s very much his equal, emotionally.”

CHICAGO MED, Wednesdays, 8/7c, NBC

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