The Chicago Med Season 11 finale is massive for Dr. Hannah Asher, but also for fans of the NBC show. After a whole season of waiting, Hannah’s baby is about to arrive—and it’s no spoiler to say that the kid has terrible timing. But what can the audience expect from this final chapter of the season?
Executive producer Allen MacDonald and actor Jessy Schram joined TVBrittanyF.com to offer up a few teases about the Chicago Med Season 11 finale. They spoke about what it was like for them to finally get to this point so long in the making. Plus, find out what almost happened except for a logistical hurdle. And check back after the finale for the rest of our two-part conversation!
Brittany Frederick: What did you feel, finally getting to the delivery of Hannah’s baby? Because it’s not just the fans who have waited a whole season for this; you have, too.
Allen MacDonald: Jessy was the one who had to wear the prosthetic stomach over and over.
Jessy Schram: We got to grow that belly. We had many different sizes, many different weights, many different textures and forms for what we were doing.
But I remember walking on set one day and just saying, we’re having our baby. Because I definitely don’t see it as just mine. It’s our show’s baby. So it was very exciting. I felt a lot of pressure; I’m not going to lie. We’ve been waiting for this moment for so long, and it was finally here. So it was a relief, but also very scary.
Chicago Med viewers have been trained to know this wasn’t going to be an average labor. How did you settle on this happening in the middle of a lockdown, while Hannah’s trying to help another expectant mother?
MacDonald: I have to shine a light on [writers] Andy Gettens and Lauren MacKenzie—especially Lauren, who I believe came up with the idea of having Hannah be delivering someone else’s baby while she goes into labor herself.
I’ll say one little thing that I know people will will love to hear and then get upset about, which is that the initial plan was to bring [former Chicago Med stars] Nick Gehlfuss and Torrey DeVitto back for a third episode. Hannah was going to be delivering Natalie’s baby when she went into labor. But that didn’t work out for reasons that are not that secret. Nick is on a different show [the Wolf Entertainment drama CIA], so we ended up switching it up.
But the idea for that was purely Lauren MacKenzie and her writing partner slash co-parent slash husband. They came up with the whole prison riot, that we ended up doing a two-parter of.
Jessy, what was your reaction when you got that script and saw those circumstances?
Schram: I will say that when Hannah was going to give birth changed in the timeline a bunch. We definitely skipped around, so I actually never fully knew when it was going to be. It changed a lot throughout the season.
But I remember texting Allen immediately when I got the last episode. It was reading that Hannah’s green pants turned more green, and then oh, my water broke, and I remember feeling floored. I dropped the script, being like, what? I did not imagine it to be this way. He always told me that I would be delivering while I was in labor, but I had no idea what that looked like or what that meant.
I texted him immediately and just went, can I please see the pages for the opening scene of our finale, because I am so floored right now. I have no idea what’s happening. I had no idea it was going to turn out this way.
Chicago Med airs Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. Photo Credit: Courtesy of NBC.
Article content is (c)2020-2026 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.
