SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for Chicago Med Season 11, Episode 21.

The Chicago Med Season 11 finale was the end of a journey that Dr. Hannah Asher was taking all season. In “Heaven Help Us,” Hannah welcomed her baby with Dr. Dean Archer. Dean also finally told Hannah that he was in love with her. It was charming, heartwarming and gives fans a lot to get excited about for next season.

In the second part of our conversation, TVBrittanyF.com spoke to actor Jessy Schram and showrunner Allen MacDonald about how Hannah’s story played out. They spoke about how they reacted to Archer’s confession, and what was important to them in the finale. For the first part of our interview, click here.

Brittany Frederick: It’s a genuine relief that Hannah has a pregnancy that doesn’t have any medical complications. Jessy, did you know that would be the case or were you expecting something to happen?

Jessy Schram: I knew all along that she would be having a healthy baby and a healthy birth, and I knew that things would happen surrounding it. I just didn’t know to what degree. I was completely floored when I read it, and I was like giggly, excited about it all.

One of the most exciting moments is Dean finally telling Hannah the worst-kept secret, that he loves her. What was it like for the two of you to get to that reveal?

Allen MacDonald: That was as effective on set, watching it at video village, for me as it was on screen. And I imagine being in the moment, for you, Jessy, it was very moving to play off of.

Schram: It was very moving. Playing it as Hannah, and then watching it on the screen—I was watching as a viewer, and was just fully taken aback by his words and his vulnerability and how he did it. And I remember feeling that on the day, but definitely reacting more from the space that Hannah was coming from. She didn’t want to deal with that before, and now it’s out in the open, and now we’re moving forward to whatever degree that looks like. So I think I got to watch it as Jessy and Hannah.

How interesting or rewarding is it for the two of you, to see how far both Hannah and Dean have come since their introductions on the show? Not only as a couple, but their own individual stories?

Schram: I would love to take a moment to appreciate it. Last time we talked, I remember I was re-watching episodes, and I think I shared with you that I saw the moment that things started to change between the two of them. Where it wasn’t them just butting heads; they were finally equals to a certain degree, and getting to see their relationship grow.

I would say that Allen definitely came in, taking what we were naturally doing—with the things that were happening knowingly and unknowingly—and then propelled that even more. And in places that honestly, I’ve been scared about or resistant to, and then have ultimately been very grateful and excited about, because it’s growth. I think both of us have had so much growth as characters and actors, getting to play these two people.

MacDonald: When I first told them both that I wanted to go in this direction, that I thought they had feelings for each other, they were like, really? [They] saw it as a friendship and what I was picking up on screen was a little different than that… [Jessy] recently went back and watched it, and then she texted me. She goes, there have been now—informed by this, the present—some moments that I’m watching, where I could see where you might think that.

But Jessy Schram and Steven Weber, who are so phenomenal on screen together and apart. I just wanted to lean into that desperately. And so we have. I don’t ever intend for it to be an easy road. But stellar performances by them both this season.

Schram: Getting to work with Steven as well, the vulnerability that he brings—I feel like if it weren’t the two of us, the same vulnerability wouldn’t be there. So it’s been really neat to have a path to go on, and then with Steven. In that scene where he’s professing his true feelings, it was really beautiful, and something that we wouldn’t have seen from from Archer normally. And same from Hannah.

They’ve broken each other’s walls down. [They’re] two very broken people that mask up a lot and that have a very special bond and trust. And I feel like we’ve been able to push that and show their vulnerabilities, instead of just always masking it or finding ways to go around it.

Outside of the relationship, this storyline is also important to Hannah’s individual development, too. It’s not solely to propel the Dean and Hannah plot forward.

MacDonald: It was important to both Jessy and me that we explore what this pregnancy is like for her as an individual, especially given the history that was established before I even got here—that her mother died giving birth to her, and how that would affect somebody. I’ve been toying with a lot of people and saying, you don’t know what’s going to happen with this birth. But really, the twist of the birth is that it’s completely normal, and nothing goes wrong.

All the issues that I insinuated [that] everyone would think had to do with the health of the baby, were actually issues that Hannah was dealing with and contending with. And she just had some beautiful scenes with her father this season, and with Dr. Charles, and that was important to both of us.

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.