‘Chicago Med’ Fans Can’t Get Enough of Will Halstead
What’s not to like about Chicago Med‘s Will Halstead? Portrayed by the handsome Nick Gehlfuss, Halstead is a physician and he is kind, gentle, caring, and charismatic. Halstead came to Chicago Med through an introduction on sister show Chicago PD, being the brother of Detective Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer). Fast becoming a fan-favorite through his boyish charm, Will is a major reason so many fans tune into the show.
Gehlfuss the actor vs. Will the character
Gehlfuss, like his character, Will, is native to the Midwest having grown up in Ohio. He is an Aquarius, born on January 21, 1985. Gehlfuss has a bachelor’s and master’s degree, each in fine arts.
Gehlfuss started acting in 2010 with guest appearances in episodes of The Good Wife, Blue Bloods, Persons of Interest, and The Newsroom. His first larger role came in 2014 when he portrayed Robbie Pratt in Shameless. Chicago Med has propelled him into a leading role and heartthrob status. But sorry ladies, unlike Will, Gehlfuss is happily married having tied the knot in May 2016. His wife, Lilian Matsuda, is a hotel marketer.
Will Halstead is maturing with the advancement of the show
Chicago Med is the third Chicago hit for creators Dick Wolf and Matt Olmstead, following Chicago Fire and Chicago PD. Halstead’s brother Jay has been a mainstay of PD and so it follows suit that Will is on a similar path on Med.
The Halstead brothers grew up in Chicago, but following college and med school, Will went to work as a plastic surgeon in New York. For an undisclosed reason, he was let go and returned to Chicago temporarily staying will his brother while looking for work. He landed in the Chicago Med ER as a third-year attending physician on an episode of Chicago Fire, “I am the Apocalypse” which issued in the premier of Med.
Siblings, marriage partners, and friends carry from one show to another
The character tie-ins have worked well for the Chicago trilogy. Family and friends carry over from one show to another. Besides the Halstead brothers, there were the sibling characters of Gabby Dawson (Monica Raymund), a paramedic on Chicago Fire, and Antonio Dawson (Jon Seda) a detective on Chicago PD, who have both moved on, and Srgt. Trudy Platt (Amy Morton) from Chicago PD is married to Firefighter Randall “Mouch” McHolland (Christian Stolte) of Chicago Fire.
Will and Jay Halstead are particularly appealing, both being single and good-looking, and each with a heart of gold. Starring on two different shows we don’t see them together a lot, but they have made guest appearances on some single episodes as well as crossover events. One of the most memorable was when their father, Pat, died following an arson fire in a crossover event. The fire occurred less than a month following the senior Halstead’s heart surgery. It was a time of serious conflict for the brothers, but also one which brought about healing to a long-lived rift between them.
Will’s less than successful relationships
From the onset, Will was taken with fellow physician, Natalie Manning (Torrey DeVitto). It took until the end of the second season for there to be a sign that a real romance was in the works. Through their ups and downs, they became engaged and the wedding day arrived half-way through Season 4 when, as a key witness to an important FBI sting, Will was whisked off to protective custody before the “I-do’s” were said.
Gone for months, Natalie was furious when Will returned, and while they worked to regain their relationship, in the end, the engagement, and wedding, were off.
Will has had other girlfriends. He dated a pathologist at Chicago Med and most recently became involved with Dr. Hannah Asher (Jessy Schram), a drug-addicted obstetrician-gynecologist, whom he treats with a Narcan shot while working at an illegal safe injection site where she overdoses. He later learns she is a physician at Med and eventually talks her into treatment for her addiction.
Will’s fans do adore him
Twitter fans overwhelmingly love Will. He “always goes above and beyond for his patients,” Brooke replied to a May 20 Chicago Med Twitter post which called Will “one special doctor.” Another fan chimed in: “such an iconic character he’s so loveable,” Becca said. “He heals people just by walking in the room lol,” Ben B said.
Chicago Med also recently posted on Twitter, “Let’s be honest, how could you NOT love Will?” Halstead is “extremely reliable, hard-working, and a forward-thinking doctor,” Gehlfuss himself said of his Chicago Med character during the show’s first season back in November 2015, “What’s going to get him into trouble is his want to save everybody, and he can’t do that.”
