‘Chicago P.D.’ Cast Member Carl Weathers Talks Directing ‘Chicago Med’: ‘It Wasn’t That Challenging’
Chicago P.D., Chicago Med, and Chicago Fire are well underway in NBC’s One Chicago universe. And there’s plenty of crossover between the three shows that fans love. Additionally, some past cast members on certain NBC hits end up joining the production team for other One Chicago shows — and such is the case for actor and director Carl Weathers. Weathers spoke about what it was like directing Chicago Med after also taking part in other One Chicago shows. Here’s what he said.
Actor and director Carl Weathers started as part of the ‘Chicago Justice,’ ‘Chicago Fire,’ and ‘Chicago P.D.’ cast
Carl Weathers joined the Chicago Fire, Chicago Justice, and Chicago P.D. cast as State’s Attorney Mark Jefferies. While he didn’t play a major character on Fire or P.D., his character seemed more central to Justice. Unfortunately for Weathers, Chicago Justice was canceled after its first season. According to One Chicago Center, NBC chose to cut the series because of its similarities to Law & Order.
“It just became somewhat of a real estate issue and just looking at how many of these Chicago shows we can sustain,” NBC chairman Robert Greenblatt stated. “We thought they are all good but it seemed like Justice was the most conventional. It was the closest to a Law and Order show, so we thought maybe this is the one we should sacrifice. But it wasn’t because the show wasn’t good. It was really because [of] a lot of other factors.”
Carl Weathers talked directing ‘Chicago Med’
While Carl Weathers didn’t last on the Chicago Fire or Chicago P.D. cast, and Chicago Justice no longer exists, he’s not too removed from the One Chicago universe. One Chicago Center notes Weathers directed episodes of Chicago Med. The actor and director talked about his experience doing so in early 2021.
“It’s something I’ve wanted to do,” Weathers explained. “I stressed to [Wolf Entertainment] a while ago that I was really interested in directing, and obviously my representatives were expressing the exact same thing. So here we are a number of years later, and I guess I got an invitation as a result and was really happy to receive it.”
As for Weathers directing the medical drama, he said, “It wasn’t that challenging, really. I don’t think any of the material is really challenging when you’re not trying to reveal something that people don’t know about medicine. And this show is so well-orchestrated on paper that your job really, as a director, is to come in and to relay those things that are really about the human beings.”
The ‘Chicago Med’ Season 7 has several cast changes
In addition to director changes, Chicago Med Season 7 saw major cast changes as well. Deadline reports Sarah Rafferty and Lily Harris joined the cast in October 2021. Rafferty plays Dr. Pamela Blake, and Harris plays patient Astrid Meadows.
Additionally, Yaya DaCosta and Torrey DeVitto exited the show. Kristen Hager and Guy Lockard also joined the scene. And Will Halstead actor Nick Gehlfuss finally returned to Chicago Med this season.
We’re sure plenty more cast changes will come in the future. As for Carl Weathers’ future directing roles with the show, we’ll have to wait and see what comes his way. But One Chicago fans certainly hope they’ll see him acting again in the shows, too.
Chicago Med Season 7 airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST on NBC.
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