‘New Amsterdam’: Ryan Eggold & EPs on Writing Out Helen, Plus New Love for Max?
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the New Amsterdam Season 5 premiere.]
If you tuned into the New Amsterdam premiere to find out why Dr. Helen Sharpe (Freema Agyeman, who announced her exit between seasons) left Dr. Max Goodwin (Ryan Eggold) at the rooftop altar, you didn’t get them.
Instead, Helen sent Max a letter: “My dearest Max, if you toss this letter, rip it up, burn it, I won’t blame you. I’ve done the same to countless versions. What I did was unforgivable, to you, to our friends, to sweet Luna. It was never my intention, none of this is what I intended. Everything I ever said to you was true. Everything we had was real but so is this thing that kept me in London. Kept me from marrying you. I wish I knew what it was. I wish I could rip it out of me, obliterate it, so I could be with you.
“Because you deserve all the happiness in the world. I wish I had an explanation to help ease your pain. But none has come. All I have is the time that’s passed and the desperate hope that it heals us both. Heals your heart. Heals your mind. Heals Luna and heals our friends. Max, you are beautiful and shimmering and I was made better for being in your light. We all were. Please don’t lose your light. May it shine again even brighter than before. All my love, Helen.”
Eric Liebowitz/NBC
But was it just us or were there hints that Max could move on with Dr. Wilder (Sandra Mae Frank)? We turned to Eggold and executive producers David Schulner and Peter Horton to get answers about that and more.
David and Peter, why write Helen out in this way?
David Schulner: Freema wanted to leave.
Peter Horton: Yeah, we did not want to write her out at all. We adore her. She’s amazing. But she wanted to move on.
Schulner: Freema let us know very early near the end of Season 3 what she was thinking and we didn’t even know if we’d get her for Season 4. But Freema agreed to stay for Season 4 and give us the runway we needed to prepare her exit in case she didn’t come back for Season 5.
Horton: Her spirit around that is not contentious or frictional at all. It was just her preference for her future and her career choices. We adore her, she adores us, she misses us, we miss her. It wasn’t a thing where she was just miserable and deciding whether to stick around. It was a harmonious sort of thing. We love her. She’s a phenomenal actress, and we just wanted as much of her as we could have gotten.
Eric Liebowitz/NBC
Will we see Freema this season?
Schulner: I would say you may not have seen the last of Helen Sharpe. That’s all I’ll tease. So stick around and find out.
Ryan, Max had to come to terms with the fact that their relationship wasn’t just love and accept the bad moments. He says he still loves her, but how is he feeling about that relationship and any possible future for them?
Ryan Eggold: Like any heartbreak, he’s mixed up and confused and at a loss and trying to figure it out and at the beginning of that journey of understanding it. We don’t yet know exactly why Helen didn’t show up. But there’s a wonderful journey that he takes with Iggy [Tyler Labine] in our first episode of maybe he’s kind of remembering it the way he wants to, of the way that things were. Max is someone who is always trying to fix things and make things better and make things perfect. He’s learning that sometimes perhaps fixing it or doing the right thing is letting someone go or giving someone space and perhaps that’s the best way to love someone. So there’s a whole lot of opportunity for Max to ask the question, where do I go from here?
That’s what I was gonna ask you, David and Peter.
Schulner: Meredith, what’d you think at the end of the episode?
Eric Liebowitz/NBC
Oh, I have a question about the end of that episode.
Schulner: [Laughs] Let’s hear it.
There’s that look that he gave Wilder, and I also noticed something earlier after game night, so should we be reading into that? Is that more just Max being hopeful? Or is there something specific there?
Horton: No, there’s nothing specific. No, there’s no attraction there between the two of them, right? What did you feel, Meredith?
I think it’s possible. I want to hear what’s coming up for them.
Schulner: You’ll have to see. We’re not gonna tell you.
Horton: Possibility is a good thing.
Eric Liebowitz/NBC
Schulner: I want to say, I just love the way Ryan filmed that sequence both in the montage that began the episode and then at the end of the episode, too, and the way Sandra tried to draw Max out of his sorrow and in the beginning he said, no, he’s not gonna go out. And at the end, that smile, I think, was, “Look at how much joy is right in front of me. I’d be a fool not to accept that kind of love and joy and friendship and comradery.” It was as beautiful onscreen as it was in my head as I hoped it would be.
Horton: And Sandra’s just a find. We’re so excited we found her and she brings so much to every single scene, such joy, such playfulness, and along with honest, honest emotion. We just love her. So you’re gonna see a lot of her.
Ryan, what can you say about their dynamic this season?
Eggold: I can say that in terms of Ryan talking about Sandra, working with her is fantastic. She’s super, as Peter said, playful and fun and very energetic onscreen and so great and brings great ideas. And I love a hearing and a non-hearing person communicating and sort of the divide between them and learning different ways to communicate when you take verbal language out of it. I don’t want to say too much. But it’s really fun playing scenes with her. And in that last shot that David was talking about, she was just so fun to watch onscreen. It felt playful. And I think when Max is in this moment of a little self-pitying and walling and cutting himself off from the world, you need somebody like that to sort of pull you back. And I think she did that so well in that moment.
There’s also the fact that Max still does need answers about Helen. So how much is that part of his journey this season, wanting those answers and maybe having to let go and not get them?
Schulner: I think that’s the Episode 1. I think that journey is needing answers. And then at the end of the episode, knowing that you might never get them and that has to be OK. It was Helen’s journey as much as it was Max’s.
We also see that Max is back at New Amsterdam where he belongs as medical director. How is that going? Is that a little easier this season? It seems like that’s something he can be certain about when his personal life is so uncertain.
Eggold: Absolutely. The personal life sort of falling apart, this absence of someone in his life leaves this big wealth of opportunity to reaffirm his mission, to dive back into helping people, to reconnect or get closer with Reynolds [Jocko Sims], with Iggy, with Bloom [Janet Montgomery], with Wilder and perhaps most importantly, his daughter. He’s a single dad now. I think bringing Sharpe into that was potentially something that if it’s not working out, what does that mean for Luna? I think his focus is very much shifting towards other people again, and certainly the hospital and his patients and helping and healing.
New Amsterdam, Tuesdays, 10/9c, NBC
Conversation13 Comments
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Comments are closed on this story.
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I'm not finishing it and I've been watching every single season since day one and if they're not going to end up together then I don't care about anybody else. This season is only get a few episodes it's extremely short extremely short so I don't know why she couldn't just finish it up and have him get married and be together they could have got married in the last episode of the finale and then just have her working in London and not show her at all that's the way they should have done it so all those years we wasted
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C
All the post I've seen and everyone that I've spoken with is thoroughly disgusted, saddened, outraged, upset and disappointed not only with S4 but E1, S5. You writers, producers showrunner have ruined it for the fans and no one is tuning in to watch the rest of it.
If you knew Helen/Freema was leaving at the end of S3, this was a remarkable opportunity to give fans a happy ending and Helen could have returned to London or done a myriad of other things other than making her the villain and just plain bad person in this relationship--in addition to just being so confused, she doesn't even know why she left Max.
If you love, admire, and respect Freema/Helen as much as you profess, why didn't you give fans what they've been longing /expecting to see after a Sharpwin buildup of 4 seasons--a happier ending instead of this one? Furthermore, no one wants to see Max and Wilder together, huge mistake if this is what your contemplating--and don't even tease us that Helen might return . It's over and won't make up for the fans monumental and excruciatingly loss of a great character and relationship.
Lastly, I, as well as so many others fans, are through with New Amsterdam this season.
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It is sad enough that the show is ending. Not having Helen in his life was
so awful. Freema, why couldn’t you hang in for one more season. 😢
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O
I'm sorry, but my take away is they knew that far in advance that Freema was unsure she'd continue through the 5 seasons the show was guaranteed to run, and THAT'S what they did with season 4? They trash her character and turned her into someone unrecognizable. It wasn't just Helen, but what they did with her is arguably the most offensive of season 4's many creative disasters. They turned our heroine into a villain and they can't even see it. They could have told her story differently without compromising Helen for the majority of last season. Max would still be devastated but she could have left for London without having blindsided everyone. Of all the ways this could have played out, it's like they purposely came up with the most insulting outcome, with tons of character assassination for everyone along the way. I was considering catching up on season 5 this week, hoping they'd right the path a little after the dumpster fire that wrecked most of season 4. It's only 13 more episodes after all, but after reading what Schulner and Horton had to say, I have lost all hope in the show that was once the TV highlight of my week. Wilder was the only good development to come out of season 4. I still love Max, Casey, Bloom, Reynolds, but I loved them on OG New Amsterdam, not what it has become.
Best wishes for the cast, past and present. Especially hope to see Ryan Eggold in another project soon, maybe one that doesn't get cancelled and doesn't turn totally bizarre.
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I really hope they don't put Max with Dr. Wilder. He is missing Helen yet it's looking like these two will hook up. Let Max just stay single and raise his daughter, no need for a new love life so fast. Not a fan of this season so far.
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I really like how the writers caught and put us in sync with all the show's characters. I, too, have been an avid fan of the show since it first started.
I have watched and waited nervously for Max to finally get what he deserves and wants. Lord knows, he's been through sooo... much and is always there to rescue others. Then, for this to happen. In real life, I wish only the best for the characters, but come on. Just let the show's final season end with him and Helen together and leave us happily imagining that they are happy and Luna will be okay.
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O
I saw Max come alive after the death of is wife, with Helen I saw him start to live again. I thought that they were good together, I would like to see that passion again
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And one more thing, it's too late for character development between Floyd and his dad or Lauren and her sister. Iggy got exactly what he deserved so I hope he and Martin do not get back together. You've ruined *every* relationship on the show and now you want to try to "right those wrongs or tie up loose ends" in the last abbreviated season? That's just asinine and uninteresting at this point.
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I actually liked it. Not every love story has a happy ending. It appears Max will be busy with the hospital and his daughter. The end of the show could wrap up everyone else’s story lines.
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I love NEW AMSTERDAM. I love Iggy & Martin & their children; I love Floyd & at first it was Bloom [then it was Floyd's superior [Connie?] who already had a husband & she went back to him; I loved Max & Helen together. Now this is the last [shortened] season...I guess Luna may be the only one left [at least Max has her] unless Luna gets torpedoed in the last scene of the last episode [it wouldn't surprise me but it would sadden me].
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I don't watch New Amsterdam, but I did feel bad for the Sharpwin shippers at first. Freema's departure was handled terribly. At this point though, continuing to complain about it isn't going to change anything. The showrunners have already written the storyline and decided how they're ending the series. I'm not sure what hate-watching accomplishes, other than making yourself unnecessarily upset. It's okay to stop watching the show, when it's no longer entertaining. This is the same problem I have with Upstead (who I LOVE) shippers from Chicago P.D. They're STILL complaining about how Jay was written out (which was far better than what Helen got, and actually in character, no matter how hard they try to say otherwise lol), his "replacement" (Torres was an addition, not a replacement), and blaming Voight for everything Hailey says/does (just like they always have, which they did with Jay too). They're constantly whining about Jay's absence, the storylines, only seeing half of Upstead, and criticizing any episode that isn't about Hailey (and, even those that are). They're still ranting about NBC and Dick Wolf. I mean, Jesse's directing episode 16, seems very happy about it and has been on set ever since Jay was written out. That's totally different from Freema. It's beyond ridiculous. They sound like 12-year olds. If you watch any show for just a ship, you'll always be disappointed. I do understand quitting if the entire story isn't interesting anymore, though.
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I'm not through with it.
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I like Max and Wilder. He's going to learn sign language. She's so smart and capable. He doesn't need to mourn and grieve for Helen. Let Helen go: bring on Wilder!
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