Warning! Major spoilers ahead for Season 12, Episode 2 of Chicago Med, “Third Rails.” All episodes are streaming with a Peacock subscription.
Changes are coming to Chicago Med’s 12th season, which just premiered on the 2026 TV schedule. Already, the NBC medical drama is down one doctor, with Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut exiting as Dr. Naomi Howard. Meanwhile, in-series, Gaffney Chicago Medical Center is seeing some changes within the ED, and I love the latest twist in last week’s episode. Jessy Schram, who plays Dr. Hannah Asher, does too, and she told me why it’s her very favorite.
Following the events of the Season 11 finale, S. Epatha Merkerson’s Sharon Goodwin has been on leave after allegedly leaking confidential files. The Season 12 premiere only continued Goodwin’s battle with the medical board, even after Nurse Doris revealed she was the one who leaked the files. While Goodwin is officially done as Executive Director of Patient and Medical Services, she’s not exactly done with Gaffney just yet.
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In order to find out what her replacement, Mallory Sloan (Rebecca Breeds), is truly up to with the changes she’s making, Goodwin is going to have to get in closer. And the only way to do that is to go back to her roots as an ED Charge Nurse. Schram told CinemaBlend what fans can expect from this new chapter for Goodwin, and why she loves it:
Goodwin coming in as a nurse through the red tape, I guess you could say, is one of my very favorite things. S. Epatha Merkerson is killing it. It’s been so fun to watch her get to play once again different sides of Goodwin, and also getting somebody who’s been on one side of the hospital for these past 12 seasons kind of putting on her nursing shoes. It’s been really fun watching her step into them and getting to do scenes with her in this regard.
While Goodwin has been running the hospital for quite some time, every once in a while she’ll step into the ED and lend a hand. Now that she’s doing it for real and for who knows how long, with something even bigger as her focus, there’s no telling what will happen. Schram did admit that this is “just the beginning” of all the changes that are happening within the hospital. Not only that, but it gives viewers a taste of how Sloan is “triggering people in not-so-small ways.”
Meanwhile, Goodwin is not the only character that fans will be seeing a different side of. Schram’s Dr. Hannah Asher will also be feeling the impact of what’s been going on, especially as she gets used to being back at work after having her baby. Like her coworkers, Hannah is not happy about the changes that Sloan is making:
In this next episode, for Hannah at least, we’ll get to see a different side of her as well, of really not loving what’s happening with Sloan and really wanting to create a better system and not wanting to be bogged down by the red tape. So I think you have a rebellious crew within all of us that will be coming up.
Gaffney is headed into uncharted territory for Season 12, and it’s clear that these changes are affecting everyone. With Goodwin joining the nursing staff in the ED, which is already seeing differences since Sloan’s addition, everyone is going to be on a ride. It will be interesting to see how what’s happening at the hospital, and the ED specifically, impacts other characters, including Hannah.
Chicago Med’s 12th season just started, so there is much more to look forward to with this storyline. Of course, there is also a lot happening in the ED other than these changes, between personal problems and the patients that roll through, so everyone is going to be dealing with a lot. Fans will have to tune in on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC to see how it all turns out on Chicago Med.
