‘Chicago Med’ Star Just Left the Show

The Gaffney Chicago Medical Center is a doctor short. Kristen Hager has officially left Chicago Med after just a single season, Deadline confirmed Monday. Hager starred on the hit NBC medical drama as Dr. Stevie Hammer.

After joining the hit series as a series regular for Season 7, Hager last appeared in Season 7, Episode 14, “All The Things That Could’ve Happened,” in early March. During the episode, Stevie reconciled with her bipolar mother and ultimately decided to move to Michigan to give her marriage with her estranged husband another try. The move all but put an end to her budding relationship with Dr. Will Halstead, whose ex-girlfriend Hannah later returned to work at Gaffney Chicago Medical Center, with actress Jessie Schram set to appear as a series regular moving forward.

While Stevie’s storyline seems wrapped up, however, it may not be the last fans see of her. In a statement to Deadline, executive producers Diane Frolov and Andy Schneider confirmed the door has been left open for Hager’s possible eventual return. They said, “We all really liked Kristen and would welcome her character coming back in the future.” The two further confirmed that fans “might” see her again when speaking to Variety.

“She’s a wonderful actor. We felt we had pretty much done her story regarding her mom and resolved that, but we’d love to have her back. And the great thing about the ‘One Chicago’ series is if the character’s alive, the character can come back,” Schneider said, with Frolov adding, “What’s happening with Stevie right now is she’s going back to try and reconnect with her husband and make that work. So we’re leaving that up in the air. Does that in fact happen? She is a character that has the potential to return.”

At this time, Hager has not commented on her exit, though fans have flooded her recent social media posts to react to the news. In one fresh comment from a March 2-dated post, one viewer wrote, “i really loved your portrayal of your character. Hate to see you leave and hope you’ll be back someday on the show.” On Twitter, another fan commented, “I liked Stevie too bad she’s leaving.”

Hager’s exit follows the exits of Yaya DaCosta and Torrey DeVitto, who portrayed original characters ER nurse April Sexton and emergency pediatrics specialist Dr. Natalie Manning. The two actors left Chicago Med before Season 7. Her departure also comes after Steven Weber, who was upgraded to a series regular at the same time Hager joined the cast, was confirmed to be returning as Dr. Dean Archer next season.