Original ‘Chicago Med’ Cast Member Stepping Back From Season 11

Marlyne Barrett is taking a temporary step back from Chicago Med.

The actress, who has played ER nurse Maggie Lockwood since the NBC medical drama’s 2015 premiere, will not return for Season 11, Deadline reported Thursday.

Barrett’s exit is temporary and due to “personal reasons,” according to the outlet’s source, with the hope being for the actress to return at some point. The actress has yet to address her upcoming absence directly.

Barrett was one of just three original cast members to remain on Chicago Med in Season 10, joined only by S. Epatha Merkerson (Sharon Goodwin) and Oliver Platt (Dr. Daniel Charles).

Barrett was diagnosed with uterine and ovarian cancer in July 2022, when doctors found a football-sized tumor on her ovary, and has been open about her cancer journey over the years.

In September 2024, The Wire actress revealed she had achieved “complete remission” after 30 rounds of chemotherapy and surgery. Working on Chicago Med while undergoing treatment was “life-giving,” she told PEOPLE at the time.

“I don’t think that people realize mobility means life,” she said. “So as long as I was able to move, work, laugh at everybody’s bad jokes. People were treating me like I was normal, even when my eyebrows were no longer present. It made the time fun, not necessarily having to think about [my health] all the time.”

Barrett also credited Wolf Entertainment and her Chicago Med family for “creating a system of care” for her throughout the difficult time.

“I think the initial phone calls with production and the studio to get greenlit to work were some of the most special phone calls that I’ve ever made in my life,” she recalled. “It wasn’t just, ‘Hey Marlyne, can you work?’ The question was, ‘How do we support you in this?’ Some of the tenderest questions that I’ve ever been asked by a corporation.”