Sarah Ramos‘ debut as Dr. Caitlin Lenox in the Chicago Med Season 10 premiere certainly rubbed some people the wrong way; in her first episode, she shocked Dr. Dean Archer (Steven Weber) by revealing she’s his co-chief in the ED and fired a doctor!
The tension between the two bosses has continued since, and it doesn’t sound like it’s going to let up anytime soon, with their different approaches to doing the job. Below, Ramos reveals what’s ahead for Lenox, including a backstory that might have you thinking differently about her.
Lenox came in hot, firing someone her first day, immediately clashing with Archer, and that tension has continued since. What are some upcoming points of contention between the two?
Sarah Ramos: Archer is still huffing and puffing his way through the ED, not really accepting or respecting his co-chief. So there’s more that Lenox has to respond to. And I don’t know, the way everybody does it on Chicago Med, things don’t get chiller. They get more intense every episode. You’ve got the medical cases coming in hot as well.
Talk about playing that contentious relationship with Steven.
That has been really fun. Steven is very different on and off screen. He’s very silly offscreen and onscreen, he’s this eye rolling anti-authority boss somehow. He doesn’t like to be questioned, he doesn’t like to explain himself and all of that. And it’s been this funny, challenging dynamic because he’s the complete opposite of Lenox, who has risen to where she’s at at an accelerated pace at a young age. She’s had to work really hard. She knows the rule book inside and out, and she’s had to protect herself as she’s gotten to this place. So their two styles definitely clash. And as I like to say, if Lenox behaved as disrespectfully as Archer did, she would probably be fired.
George Burns Jr/NBC
Is there anything that she likes about Archer’s leadership style?
I think that Lenox secretly admires the way that he does things personably and kind of casually, even though it really gets under her skin because she hasn’t been able to do that. In order to get where she’s gotten, she’s had to play by the rules and work so hard that she doesn’t really have that luxury to be casual about things. But I think that she recognizes things might be easier if she could be a little bit more personable like Archer is.
What are some other changes that she’s going to be making in the ED? What are some areas she thinks can be improved that we have yet to see?
You are in for some more uncomfortable conversations and Lenox asking questions that make people defensive, even though she just wants to create a culture of transparency, where as a team they can all discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly together. And no topic is off limits because that is what leads to better communication and the best results, which is what she really cares about. But people feel a little—their feathers are a little ruffled and they think she’s got some secret agenda behind what she’s asking.
Who will she be warming up to and who will be warming up to her?
I don’t know if I’ve done any warming up yet. [Laughs] But I definitely think Lenox has an ally in Goodwin [S. Epatha Merkerson] because Goodwin also has been making enemies and she also has to tell some hard truths and make some hard decisions. And she is also there to get the best results out of her staff. So as long as Lenox delivers for Goodwin, I think she’ll have an ally there.
George Burns Jr/NBC
Is anything coming up in Lenox’s personal life? Any romance?
We definitely have of a lot of personal development coming up. Lenox has an amazing backstory that I think is going to have people second guessing some of the snap judgements they’ve made about her. It’s definitely what drew me to want to play the character and to want to root for her while she is being misunderstood by so many people. So I don’t want to spoil what you’re going to see, but you’re going to get to know Lenox a bit more.
Are we going to be meeting people in her life outside of the hospital?
I mean, I don’t know, maybe.
Who could be next on the chopping block in Lenox’s eyes?
Look, nobody’s on the chopping—Lenox wants everyone to succeed, by the way. You’re only as good as the weakest link, right? You need everybody to be operating and at their best. So Lenox wants to raise people up. She’s got this relationship with student doctor Howard [Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut] that she’s really invested in making her into the best doctor she can be. As long as nobody runs out of the room and leaves a patient there to die, I think they might be safe.
The logline for this week’s episode says that a familiar face returns to the ED. Can you say who that is and preview what’s going on? Is Lenox involved in that?
That is not part of Lenox’s storyline as much. Lenox is continuing her journey with Asher [Jessy Schram] and rehashing what went down in the really gut-wrenching medical drama of Elise Thompson’s [Ito Aghayere] case.
In the October 23rd episode, Lenox is going to be working with an autistic child in a way that surprises Hannah and Maggie [Marlyne Barrett]. What can you preview?
He’s not the patient. His mom is being treated, he comes into the ED, and nobody really knows how to handle him. And Lenox steps in and shows a little bit more of her softer side and her really compassionate side. Allen MacDonald told me this was based on a real story from the news about something that really happened in a school, I believe.
What else is coming up for Lenox?
We’ve got the backstory, which is a doozy. She’s got a lot on her plate. She’s dealing with openly defiant colleagues and she’s dealing with life and death emergencies left and right. She’s trying to be the best boss and colleague she can be. She’s mentoring student doctor Howard. Is that not enough? Do you need more?
I feel like she can handle more.
Wow, I love that. You have a lot of confidence and rightly so.
What’s been favorite scene to film so far?
I’ve had so many favorite scenes. I like any scene where comedy kind of comes out of it unexpectedly and there have been some unexpected twists and turns in some upcoming episodes where you think one thing’s going to happen and something completely different happens, or you think things are going to go wrong and they go right, and that’s kind of a rare occurrence on this show, and especially for Lenox, who is way more comfortable handling and delivering bad news than good news. So I think it’s fun to see her out of her element when something positive happens.
Chicago Med, Wednesdays, 8/7c, NBC