‘The Resident’ Season 6: Kaley Ronayne Upped to Series Regular

Kaley Ronayne as Cade in The Resident
Nathan Bolster/FOX

Considering Dr. Cade Sullivan (Kaley Ronayne) is in the middle of a love triangle and her father, Dr. Ian Sullivan (Andrew McCarthy), isn’t going anywhere, it’s no surprise that she’s sticking around.

Ronayne has been upped to series regular for The Resident Season 6, TVLine reports. So even if she doesn’t have a romantic future with Dr. Conrad Hawkins (Matt Czuchry), her personal life will probably be filled with enough conflict just from having her father now at Chastain full-time.

Andrew McCarthy, Kaley Ronayne and Matt Czuchry in The Resident

Nathan Bolster/FOX

“We love the soap between [Ian] and Cade, father and daughter working in the same hospital. We think that’s really fun and interesting,” showrunner Andrew Chapman told TV Insider after the Season 5 finale. “He plays the sort of narcissistic ambitious surgeon so well [and] we have little hints of character flaws. He’s had a disease, but he also has an issue with painkillers. There’s all kinds of juicy stuff that we can play going forward. Is this a guy who has addiction issues and will he be the superstar doctor moving forward?”

As for Cade’s personal life, there was clearly a spark between her and Conrad in Season 5 — briefly addressed, as they faced her possibly leaving due to their investigation into the fake prescriptions and her past — but there’s also something between him and Dr. Billie Sutton (Jessica Lucas). In the Season 5 finale, following flashbacks to a date night between Conrad and late wife Nic (Emily VanCamp), he was ready to move on and had made a decision.

“We really wanted to leave that decision to the start of Season 6, … That decision will be surprising, and we have a really interesting way to unfold it and the story that follows,” Chapman said. “It’s a really complicated decision. Both of these women have pros and cons in the world of relationships.”

He continued, “Cade is very similar to Conrad and a risk-taker and an action figure. Billie is maternal and warm and she’s already been a mother and she’s gone through so much with her estranged son and coming back from that. They both pose really wonderful opportunities for Conrad and for his heart. They also have, like all of us, their character flaws that he would have to live with, so I think he’s gone through those things and has very strong feelings and you’ll see them in the beginning of Season 6.”

The Resident, Season 6 Premiere, Tuesday, September 20, 8/7c, Fox