Chicago Med’s Steven Weber Talks Archer’s Evolution and the “Avengers Endgame” of Crossovers
It feels like Chicago Med is in its own Rennaisance.
And Chicago Med Season 10 Episode 8 certainly left us on the edge of our seats with a finale that saw beloved Goodwin at the mercy of a disgruntled spouse of a patient.
Her life hangs in the balance, but could it potentially hang in the hands of the man she demoted?
In an exciting One Chicago press junket, TV Fanatic had the privilege of catching up with the legendary Steven Weber about Dr. Archer’s shocking decision to resign, and those final moments of Goodwin’s stabbing.
Incredibly charismatic and candid, Weber breaks down Archer’s evolution as a character, teases what the future may hold for him in the revolving door Dick Wolf Universe, and gets into the epic “Avengers: Endgame” style One Chicago crossover.
Weber has his finger on the pulse regarding Dean Archer’s character development and mindset.
The opportunity to pick his brain about the character’s flaws, evolution, and how he brings him to life was illuminating.
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He also praises the season’s new tone, delving deeper into the characters psyches, expanding that character exploration to some of Chicago Med’s most staple background characters, and the exciting new approach that new DOP takes with shooting the series.
Ahead of a must-see midseason premiere, check out our exclusive chat with Steven Weber below!
The mid-season finale delivered two huge, shocking cliffhangers. You were part of both of them. Were you as surprised as we were that Archer went through with his resignation?
Yeah, believe me, I was scared when I read it. I thought, “Oh, great. Bye, everybody. This is so long.”
In Wolf World, the shows are great, but let’s face it, everybody’s dispensable — everybody but Mariska Hargitay. Mariska is Mt. Rushmore.
Everybody else? Bye-bye. So, once I saw that, I actually asked, “Is this it, am I?” And they just said, “Don’t worry about it; don’t worry about it.” They didn’t elaborate, but I’m still here.
Did Archer have some sort of nefarious plan to get rid of Lenox? I was surprised that he gave in that easily. I was expecting something worse.
I think that would have been too easy. The thing is that he’s been on a kind of an emotional journey, if you will, where he’s been evolving from the reactive, dickish, toxic, masculine pain in the ass.
He’s softened his tone a little bit, and he’s becoming more understanding. That said, there are still things that, for this broken guy, trigger him, like a strong woman who is not just strong, but she’s as dickish as he is, maybe more so. He’s learning to deal.
He’s got to face himself. In some ways, Lenox is kind of that. There’s a hard scene when I say something, when she’s on the elevator, and I say, “You’re gonna get it.”
And I was afraid they were making him into some horrible sociopath. But no, that’s sort of the last echo of this guy. And instead, he’s learning to deal with stuff and not just snap at it or strike back at it.
You actually touched on one of my next questions. How will Archer continue evolving in the second half of the season? He’s shown some real growth in such a short period.
I think he has. But also, the writers have very smartly not resorted to cheesy moments of him weeping while watching Beaches or like, “There’s some kittens.” No, he’s still a military guy from a certain generation.
He’s dealing with his son’s absence and the end of his relationship with his girlfriend, and the kind of questions that have been slowly encroaching upon his reality, which is, who am I? What am I?
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What am I supposed to be doing with my life? What’s my purpose? He’s starting to ask these questions, and they’re coming to him in the form of these challenges.
They’re coming to him in the form of Lenox. They’re coming to him in the form of Ms. Goodwin’s vicious attack.
They’re coming to him in the form of Hannah, who is not a romantic person in his life but somebody who represents trust and intimacy that he’s avoided and who has avoided him. So there’s a lot of evolution.
What role will he play in rescuing Sharon after everything that’s gone on? And how does that affect their relationship after the demotion?
It’s safe to say that since he’s the last guy you see, he will play a big role in intervening. Whether he saves her or not, we’ll have to see.
But the reality is that he finds himself in this role that the universe has thrown at him at this critical moment when he’s ready to jettison the whole thing.
How it affects him going forward, again, without speaking too much about it, as we’ve already said, he’s in a place where he’s becoming more receptive to the world and less reactive to it and less defensive.
Things that were threats are now more of an opportunity. I know it’s very woo-woo.
Of course, it’s your first big One Chicago crossover. Can you tell me what that experience has been like interacting with the others? What can you tease about that?
The crossover is the equivalent of going to a One Chicago theme park. And everybody is lined up for hours, if not days.
They’ve been camping out in tents for days to enter this theme park. Once they get in, they go on this three-hour thrill ride that is the One Chicago equivalent of, I want to say, Avengers Endgame.
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It is so big, but it’s so exciting that it’s not just a couple of people mixing it up across each other’s sets. Oh, there’s a nurse over there. There’s a doctor in the firehouse.
No, this is everybody. Everybody is guns blazing figuratively. And it was truly exciting and super fun. And the audience is just going to be rewarded.
It’s so thrilling and moving and great. It was a fantastic epic event.
What has it been like collaborating with new showrunner Allan MacDonald? The series has different but fun new energy this season.
It’s been exciting. The previous seasons with Andy and Diane have been wonderful, and the way they wrote and developed stories and these characters — you can’t really compare it to anything. But they very generously and smartly gave the reins to Allan MacDonald and Anna Dokoza.
Through them, they’ve spearheaded a kind of intensifying of these characters and almost leveling them all up to a place the audience might not have expected to go, which is deeper, more personal, grittier, and less performative.
“Hey, we’re going to do some fancy surgery.” No, we’re going into the lives and the kind of connective tissue between these characters.
They’re starting to explore these so-called background characters, the nurses and the attendants who’ve been there for years, way before I was there. And they’re starting to open up that world, which is amazing and fantastic.
And they’re doing it in a way by also utilizing our new director of photography, Shawn Maurer, who’s infusing the look of the show with more texture, more drama, sunlight, and moonlight.
It’s not just we’re lit on the inside of a hospital. There’s a life happening in how he crafts the show’s look. So everybody’s clearly excited. Everybody.
It translates well. It feels like a renaissance of the series, which is really exciting.
Yeah, that’s great.
Do you have anything else you can tease about what’s upcoming?
Well, let me say, no, I don’t. I’ve given you all my teases. I can’t do too much!
Chicago Med returns tonight at 8/7c on NBC!
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