What exactly does Dr. Mitch Ripley (Luke Mitchell) know about the attack on Pawel (Kristof Konrad)—his former patient who sued him blamed him when he was brought into the ED—that ended last season of Chicago Med? That’s the question for the beginning of Season 10 (premiering Wednesday, September 25 on NBC).
That happened just as Ripley and Dr. Hannah Asher (Jessy Schram) were making progress in their personal relationship—and she was among the staff standing by as he said nothing to defend himself before walking out in the finale in the spring. Then there’s also how this will affect his relationship with Dr. Daniel Charles (Oliver Platt), given their complicated history from when Ripley was a kid.
Below, Mitchell previews how Ripley’s doing at the beginning of Season 10, what’s ahead for him and Hannah, the new doctors coming in, and more.
Let’s go back to that finale cliffhanger and Ripley not saying anything to defend himself—everyone was looking at him to say something.
Luke Mitchell: It’s a big moment, no matter which way you look at it and what you interpret from that, whether he is not saying anything because he is guilty or he is not saying anything because he’s protecting Sully [Daniel Dorr] or he’s not saying anything because he knows something else, and we’re going to be diving into that in the new season. There’s going to be a little bit of a time jump and we’re going to find our way through the climb of that storyline, but it’s not going to be a smooth ride.
It’s tricky because the question is obviously—[there’s] who Ripley was. He was an aggressive kid. He was capable of doing something like this. Is he still that person, and how much has he changed? Could he still be capable of doing something like this? We’ve seen Sully come back into the picture who is basically a representation of who Ripley was, so now it’s how much has he changed and could he be manipulated by his friend into doing something? Or is it simply he’s trying to protect his friend because he knows that his friend has gone and done something stupid?
George Burns Jr/NBC
Because he has changed and we’ve seen that he’s changed, what does that mean for how he’s dealing with all of this?
I don’t think he’s dealing with it very well. I think he’s being seriously challenged, triggered. He’s going to be forced to process and deal, learn to manage himself better. Because what we’ll come to understand is that Hannah and Ripley in the new season are not in a great place. Things are going to be a bit rocky between them, and I can’t say too much, but what I will say is that it’s basically on Ripley. I think he’s not dealing with the situation very well and he’s isolating himself and he’s not communicating and he’s internally processing and he’s frustrated and then probably feeling some kind of way about, I don’t know, being looked at like he could have done it, if he didn’t do it, at the end of last season. Everyone’s looking at him. I know they’re expecting him to respond and say, no, I didn’t do it, but he’s still being looked at in an accusational kind of way. So I think that’s something challenging for him.
It might be easier for him to just be the person that he was, that people may expect him to be.
Absolutely. Exactly right. That plays into, how much has he changed? Has he changed? Or he’s still growing and learning and maybe this is, I don’t know, the final test for him to continue growing on the path that he’s on and not resort back to old behaviors and sabotage his life, his relationships, his profession.
You said Ripley and Hannah aren’t in a great place, but what does he want to happen there? He has so much going on, is he even in a place for a relationship?
I think he thought he was for sure, but with everything that’s being stirred up, that is the question. Is he actually ready for a relationship? Maybe this is the perfect inciting incident for him to grow and to be in a position to have a healthy relationship. So I think they’ve got some figuring out to do, but [first], Ripley has some figuring out to do.
George Burns Jr/NBC
One of my favorite parts of last season was Ripley and Charles’ relationship. It’s so complicated and just as they seem to take a step forward, something happens. How’s that this season?
I think there’s a bit of a parallel between his relationship with Hannah and his relationship with Dr. Charles. At the end of last season, Dr. Charles kind of blew up at him and said that he’s done, which is kind of a big deal for a character like Charles. I think that’s also going to feed into Ripley’s challenge. They probably need a bit of time and space, and Ripley’s going to do some thinking, and I think if their relationship is going to get back to the high of last season, it’s going to be on Ripley to reconnect and to show that he’s growing.
I’m looking forward to those scenes—you and Oliver were great together last season.
Oh, thank you very much. I just had an absolute blast. It’s such a joy working with Oliver, he’s so enthusiastic, and he wants to make sure that every scene he does is the best it possibly can be, which is just amazing when you think about someone who’s been on the show for nine, 10 years, to bring that level of enthusiasm to every single scene. It was really special.
With Ripley isolating himself, is he talking to anyone at all?
I don’t think so, but we’ll come to learn more pretty quickly as the premiere episode evolves. The tension is ratcheted up quite a lot for Ripley. There’s a lot going on in the hospital. There’s a big event, there’s a big crash, there’s mass casualties, there’s a neighboring hospital that is closing down, so they’re going to have to take on more and more patients. And then he finds out that he was actually seen at the scene of the crime, at the Pawel attack, and so he knows that there could be an arrest warrant, and so very quickly he’s in it and we’re on the journey. It’s going to be rocky.
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So he’s throwing himself into work as long as he can before that could be taken away from him?
Totally. I think work is all he has at this point, but then when it’s revealed that an arrest warrant could be imminent, that blows that cover because if he’s arrested, then he is going to be stood down from work and he has to deal with it. There’s no hiding.
There are some changes to the ED this season besides what could be going on with Ripley, with new characters coming in. We know Crockett’s going to be gone. Is there anything you can say about how that will be explained? Any effects on Ripley?
I don’t believe there will be any story effects on Ripley. One of [the new doctors] will have an effect on Ripley and his journey, a wonderful actress by the name of Sarah Ramos plays Dr. Lenox, and she’s going to be in a position of power and is definitely going to be pushing some buttons—some of Ripley’s buttons, everyone’s buttons. But with Ripley being on this journey where his edges are fraying and he’s really struggling, he’s going to be triggered more than usual. So that’s going to be really interesting to see play out.
Is there any hope for any time when he can just breathe a sigh of relief and relax coming up early in the season?
I certainly hope so for my sake. No, there will definitely be moments of reprieve amongst the highs and the lows of his story, which will be nice and will be necessary because for the most part, there are a lot of intense scenes coming up.
The premiere features a commuter ship capsizing and the doctors struggling to treat the patients. The nearby hospital is closing. What else can you preview about that?
It’s probably busier than a hospital would want to be, so it’s kind of battle stations, which is kind of perfect for where Ripley’s at at the start of the season. As we’re saying, he’s hiding behind his work, and the busier he is… He prides himself in his expertise as a doctor. I think he kind of thrives in that sort of environment, so just throws himself head-on. But yeah, it’s going to be chaotic with the amount of casualties they get.
Is there anything new job-wise for Ripley this season? Any new responsibilities he’s looking to take on?
It’s a longer season this season, and I don’t know exactly what’s going on for his entire arc, I would hope that there are things to explore job-wise. I think my longer-term wish for Ripley would be to maybe explore having an expertise of or getting into the expertise of psychology, given his past and also his relationship with Dr. Charles. I think that would be a really interesting thing to explore. But I don’t think that if that happens, I haven’t spoken to the writers about it. I think that would be down the track.
But is that something he would be ready for at this point?
No, but I think if things go well with him and his journey, then I think at some point. You look at some of the cases that he had last season that were quite meaningful for him and they revolved around psychology and mistreatment, which is on par with where he was as a kid.
I think he would have to go back to therapy for that to happen and it doesn’t sound like he’d be able to do that now.
Hey, that’d be an interesting storyline for Dr. Ripley, to have some therapy sessions with Dr. Charles. I think that’d probably be a conflict of interest, but I would like to see that play out, whether it’s with Dr. Charles or someone else, because I think that would be interesting and probably necessary.
George Burns Jr/NBC
What else can you preview about what’s coming up for Ripley?
Sully is obviously back because he needs to be back for this Pawel storyline. I think there are some bigger implications to Sully being back. There’s some personal stuff to explore there, which I’m really excited about. Daniel Dorr, who plays Sully, is just a wonderful actor and a joy to work with. So we’ve been getting some pretty interesting scenes to work on. We may or may not see Sully’s partner, Lynn [Hope Lauren], and their baby.
To be honest, Ripley’s got enough on his plate with the Pawel assault accusations, potential impending arrest and him losing his job, having to decide whether to tell the truth about whether he did [something] or whether he knows something about someone else doing it, whether he can mend his relationship and move forward and grow with Hannah, and whether he can mend his relationship with Dr. Charles.
How much will we be getting of Ripley away from the hospital?
That’s an interesting sentence. There will be things away from the hospital, but probably not in the places that he would want to be. That’s what I’ll tease about that.
Sounds like a jail cell to me. Anything else you can preview about what’s coming up in general?
We have these two great new actors coming in. Darren Barnet and Sarah Ramos, and they’re doing a wonderful job. Darren plays a pediatrician, so we’ve got a bunch of really interesting storylines involving kids. And then Lenox will be in a position of power and she’s going to be pushing a lot of buttons and she’s going to be pushing Archer’s [Steven Weber] buttons, which is obviously going to be really fun because who doesn’t want to see Archer’s buttons pushed? We’re going to see Goodwin [S. Epatha Merkerson] in a slightly different role, at least for an episode, which is really fun.
Any crossovers with Fire or P.D.?
I hope so. I haven’t heard anything yet, but being that this is a longer season, hopefully, there’s a chance for that. I personally would love it because being the relatively new kid, I haven’t had the opportunity and last season was a shorter season. I hope there’s some big event that requires a three-way crossover or something, but I don’t have confirmation of that.
Yeah, it could be fun to see Ripley on a call with Fire.
Yeah, totally. Or something dodgy involving Sully, and Chicago P.D. has to get involved. Who knows?
What are you enjoying most about playing Ripley this season, now that you have a season of him under your belt?
He’s such a great character, but I think having a season under my belt is just such a great foundation for this new season. I just feel like I have a really good handle on him. I’ve lived in his shoes, and as such, I’ve developed relationships with the other characters and I just feel more comfortable and confident to play and grow and push boundaries with this character. And the writers are giving me the perfect storyline to push boundaries because Ripley’s going to be a little frayed at the edges, a little unhinged perhaps at times. Definitely triggered. So I’ve been gifted storylines that allow us to kind of push the boundaries of who you think this character is.
Chicago Med, Season 10 Premiere, Wednesday, September 25, 8/7c, NBC
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