10 ‘Chicago Med’ Stars Who Left the Show — And Why
After covering the departures in the Chicago Fire cast and the Chicago P.D. cast, we turn now to Chicago Med. Though the NBC medical drama is the youngest One Chicago series — or, at least, the youngest one still on the air (sorry, Chicago Justice) — its number of former series regulars has hit the double digits. Here’s what we know about why each former star said goodbye.
Rachel DiPillo (Dr. Sarah Reese)
DiPillo’s departure is probably the bimystery of Chicago Med. Dr. Sarah Reese left Gaffney in the Season 4 premiere, feeling betrayed that mentor Dr. Daniel Charles (Oliver Platt) almost let her father die. But DiPillo didn’t address her exit, and until she returned to the show for Season 10 guest arc, she stayed out of the spotlight.
Norma Kuhling (Dr. Ava Bekker)
For her part, Kuhling left Chicago Med in the Season 5 premiere, due to “creative reasons related to [the character’s] story evolution,” per Deadline. In that episode, Dr. Ava Bekker fatally slices her own throat with a scalpel after killing the father of Dr. Connor Rhodes (Colin Donnell), the object of her obsession.
Colin Donnell (Dr. Connor Rhodes)
Donnell departed the series in the same episode, also for the same creative reasons, according Deadline. “I’m not going to be able to get over what’s happened here, and nobody is ever going to be able to forget,” Dr. Connor Rhodes told Dr. Isidore Latham (Ato Essandoh) in that episode. “I need a fresh start.”
Yaya DaCosta (April Sexton)
April Sexton opted out of her Gaffney job to join a nurse practitioner program at the end of Season 6 (but returned in Season 8 to marry Brian Tee’s Dr. Ethan Choi) as DaCosta pounced on another TV prospect. “I fell in love with Our Kind of People and I jumped at the opportunity to work with Lee Daniels again,” she told reporters, per Deadline.
Torrey DeVitto (Dr. Natalie Manning)
DeVitto’s exit at the start of Season 7 came after her character, Dr. Natalie Manning, confessed to stealing experimental drugs for her mother and was fired. The actor told Us Weekly in 2024 her Season 6 storyline was “weird” and left Manning in a “big hole.” She said she knew the writers “wanted a change-up,” so she and they “had a mutual conversation.”
Kristen Hager (Dr. Stevie Hammer)
Midway through Season 7, Dr. Stevie Hammer moved to Michigan to try to reconcile with her estranged husband, perhaps because Hager was expecting a baby. “She’s a wonderful actor. We felt we had pretty much done [Hammer’s] story regarding her mom and resolved that,” producer Andrew Schneider said upon Hager’s exit, per Variety.
Brian Tee (Dr. Ethan Choi)
And midway through Season 8, Dr. Ethan Choi bid farewell to his Gaffney colleagues as he and Sexton decided to start a mobile clinic. According to Deadline, Tee decided to leave the show so he could have more time for his family — including his wife and his young daughter — and for other screen projects.
Nick Gehlfuss (Dr. Will Halstead)
Dr. Will Halstead resigned from Gaffney after eight seasons — and after sabotaging his corporate overlord’s dangerous OR 2.0. new technology — when Gehlfuss opted to say goodbye. “It was a difficult decision, but ultimately, I felt I’d taken Dr. Halstead as far as I can go with him,” Gehlfuss told Variety at the time. “Ultimately, I want to develop new, different characters.”
Guy Lockard (Dr. Dylan Scott)
Dr. Dylan Scott (right) tendered his resignation at the hospital after accidentally killing girlfriend Milena Jovanovic (Riley Voelkel) as he tried to shoot a mobster. “We came to the end of his story,” producer Diane Frolov told Deadline at the time. “The death of his girlfriend leaves him really shaken up and it put him on a new path, a different path.”
Dominic Rains (Dr. Crockett Marcel)
After a young patient of Dr. Crockett Marcel died under his care and the boy’s father died by suicide, the doc took his leave from the hospital following Season 9. The reasons why Rains left the show remain unclear, however.
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