‘Chicago Med’ Is Finally Bringing Back Colin Donnell as Connor Rhodes

Chicago Med just dropped perhaps the best news in years: Dr. Connor Rhodes will be setting foot in Gaffney once again.

Colin Donnell is returning for two episodes — the December 9 fall finale being the first — according to People. He comes back when Sharon Goodwin (S. Epatha Merkerson) turns to him “to help a young heart patient who needs a complicated, risky surgery.”

Showrunner Allen MacDonald told the outlet, “Dr. Connor Rhodes was the very first character fans met in the opening scene of Chicago Med‘s premiere episode in 2015, and he’s one of my absolute favorites in the history of the series, so bringing him back home to Gaffney Chicago Medical Center has been an absolute priority for me since I joined the show. I’m so thrilled that Colin Donnell has agreed to return in his iconic role, bringing with him all of Connor’s warmth, intelligence, and complexity. Both Colin and Connor have been missed.”

Elizabeth Sisson/NBC

With Sharon the one to bring him in for this surgery, it sounds like that means that she’ll be back in charge by that point; right now, she’s fighting for her job after being accused of leaking a doctor’s medical files. And she’s one of only a couple of characters — Charles (Oliver Platt) being the other — who were on the show the last time Donnell was. He exited in Season 5, with Connor leaving behind Gaffney after fellow doc and ex-girlfriend Ava (Norma Kuhling) killed his father, then herself.

MacDonald has been very open about wanting to bring back as many OGs as he can. He told TV Insider in 2025, “It is my plan to bring back all the original cast members at some time or another, so I think that’s a watch-and-see sort of thing.”

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He explained, “But what’s important to me is as I bring them back, that I bring them back one at a time for the most part. I brought Dr. Sarah Reese [Rachel DiPillo] back [in Season 10] because I felt that I wanted to update what the dynamic was with Charles. I was very interested in a more mature, more experienced Sarah Reese going head-to-head with Charles. I loved that character from watching the earlier seasons. But I worry about packing a whole bunch of OG characters into one episode because then you don’t get to give them their due.”

He also shared at the time that he knew about the “big push” to have Donnell and Nick Gehlfuss (who did return last season) back. “There’s a push to have all the original cast come back, but there’s something about now people know that Will’s coming back, there’s this big, big push for Colin Donnell, and I would love to welcome Colin back to the show,” MacDonald said.

What are you hoping to see when Colin Donnell returns as Connor? Let us know in the comments section below.

Chicago Med, Wednesdays, 8/7c, NBC