‘The Resident’ Boss on Austin’s Family & Bell’s ‘Incredible’ Season 3 Arc
Q&A
There’s a new boss and villain on The Resident in Season 3: Red Rock Mountain Medical.
The doctors must contend with the consequences of Dr. Bell (Bruce Greenwood) making a deal to save Chastain, and that means things are changing at the hospital. We already started seeing that in the premiere, which introduced new neurosurgeon Dr. Barrett Cain (Morris Chestnut).
Also changing this season? Things for Austin (Malcolm-Jamal Warner), who started looking into his biological family last season.
Here, executive producer Todd Harthan previews these and more storylines in Season 3.
!['The Resident' Boss on [Spoiler]'s Death, Dr. Cain & the 'Serious Threat' to Kit](https://www.tvinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/The-Resident-301-Nic-Cain-Kit-234x155.jpg)
What are some of the major changes and conflicts we’re going to see at the hospital under Red Rock? I loved Mina’s “red rock” like “redrum,” but while they’re bad for the hospital and doctors, are they elevator of blood bad?
Todd Harthan: Not initially. Not necessarily. Not elevator of blood bad, but very different than the way that we saw the hospital run prior. Now that they’re part of a huge corporate conglomerate, there are certain rules that they institute and certain personnel that they bring in. They certainly rule with an even stronger iron fist, and that’s going to create some serious issues with our heroes because ultimately their way of managing the hospital squeezes the patients even harder and puts them in harm’s way more often.
Our team of doctors are going to have to amp up their fight. The stakes are rising this season and not just for the Conrads and Nics and Devons and Minas of it all, but we’re going to put Bell in a pretty precarious situation as well because he was the architect of this. It’s like, “did I bring in what I thought was going to be my new partner but did they end up being the thing that’s going to lead to my downfall?”
(Guy D’Alema/FOX)
We’re going to be seeing a bit of Austin’s family coming up. What can you tease about the different side of him we’ll see?
The different side you’re going to see is the vulnerability of this man who seemed like he was an impenetrable god. We’re going to peel back the layers, and you’re going to see this man’s wounds and the things that have scarred him since he was a little boy.
The exciting thing about Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s performance this season is there’s a depth to it that we have not exposed in the season-and-a-half he’s been with us. It gets intense and it gets personal and it gets emotional. Our Thanksgiving episode is a big one for him. We’re putting him on a real emotional roller coaster this year.
I really enjoyed seeing Eloise as the new intern. While we already see the doctors treating her differently, we also see she’s not going to let that continue. What’s different about what she brings to the show from other doctors we’ve met?
We’re still talking about her arc over the course of the season and how we want that to play. The thing that we’re excited about with her and the reason why we brought her back is being in a hospital is the most dangerous place she can be. We have some fearless people on the board, but her fearlessness has to be on a different level because of what she survived and what she’s still protecting herself from.
She’s a triple transplant, but lung transplants in particular are high rejection rate. It’s already scary to be in a place where you’re responsible for saving people’s lives, but now it’s doubly scary for her because her own life is constantly at risk and how can she and can she overcome that fear?
(Guy D’Alema/FOX)
What else can you preview about this season? Any multi-episode arcs, sort of like the anesthesiologist last season? Should we be worried about any more doctors causing harm in that way?
Always, always worry when you’re watching this show. You should worry for everybody. Yes, we love those mini-arcs, and we are always going to have some characters on the board that are going to threaten our various heroes, just to keep our audience nervous. … We’ve got some crazy stuff coming down the way with Conrad.
People will be really surprised by the ride that we’re taking Dr. Bell on this year. It’s unlike anything we’ve done in the previous two seasons, and so far, Bruce has been incredible at the stuff we’ve been throwing him. Always be nervous because we’ve got some stuff that’s going to make people uncomfortable, probably unhappy for periods of time, but then we’ll get them back with the victories that our heroes always pull out in the end. It’s going to be a fun, fun season.
I’ve really enjoyed Dr. Bell’s development. He’s come so far from when we first met him.
Yes! He was just the black-and-white guy that was out for himself and it was all selfish all the time and now we’ve found ways to humanize him and again, peeling back the layers of who he actually is and putting him in situations where you get to see different colors from him. This season is going to be an incredible ride for him. The audience is really going to be excited and surprised by where we’re taking him.
The Resident, Tuesdays, 8/7c, Fox
