Chicago Med’s Marlyne Barrett Taking a Step Back as Maggie in Season 11

Chicago Med’s nurse station will look different for season 11 as actress Marlyne Barrett takes a step back from the series.

Barrett, who has played ED nurse Maggie Lockwood since the show’s premiere in 2015, is taking a break from the NBC series for “personal reasons,” Deadline reported on Thursday, August 28.

According to the outlet, Barrett’s break is “envisioned as a temporary leave” with the “hope” that she returns in the future.

Us Weekly reached out to NBC, and the network is not commenting further on the casting update.

Barrett, 46, has been a fixture on Chicago Med since the series began. During season 5 of the series in 2019, Maggie battled breast cancer, which later helped the actress through her own health issues.

In September 2022, Barrett announced that she had been quietly battling uterine and ovarian cancer after being diagnosed that July.

“When my character went through breast cancer, I had a sea of people reach out to me through social media,” she recalled to People in September 2022. “They brought me courage, and so I felt a sense of inevitability to meet their hearts where they met me.”

Two years later, Barrett revealed in September 2024 she was in full remission. Fans, meanwhile, tuned in week after week throughout season 10 to see what Barrett’s Maggie would do next.

A major story line of season 10 was the nurse’s strike, in which Maggie was at the forefront. Going into season 11, Barrett was one of three original cast members expected to return.

“We’re definitely going to give Maggie some wonderful stuff next year,” showrunner Allen MacDonald exclusively told Us in May. “We’re gonna see all those nurses.”

While Barrett’s future as Maggie has now changed for the upcoming season, fellow OG stars S. Epatha Merkerson and Oliver Platt, who play Sharon Goodwin and Dr. Daniel Charles, respectively, will be back.

Deadline reported in June that Merkerson, 72, and Platt, 65, had their options for the 2025-2026 picked up and would return for another season.

Although fans will miss Maggie in the ED, Us confirmed earlier this month that OG star Nick Gehlfuss will have a guest-starring role as Dr. Will Halstead. Viewers last saw Will during the season finale in May 2023 when he left Chicago for a new adventure in Seattle.

Chicago Med returns for season 11 on NBC Wednesday, October 1, at 8 p.m. ET.