Dean Archer (Steven Weber) has had his share of detractors during his time on “Chicago Med,” but did you know his story arc was almost completely different? Weber revealed during an appearance on The One Chicago Podcast that Dean was almost killed off during his first season on the program. The actor said that in the original sides he auditioned with, “the character was a guy who was a naval surgeon, who had been to Afghanistan, had been wounded, had PTSD, and in fact, at the end of this arc was going to do some self-harm.” Weber added that this version of Archer “was suffering and had untreated trauma, and at the end of this guy’s story, he was not gonna make it.”
So, what changed the producers’ minds? “Halfway through [the initial arc], I think they decided that this character had more depth and appeal and possibilities beyond where they were gonna take him,” Weber explained. “And so after that, they decided not to end the character, and they brought me back the next season for a number of [episodes]. And then from there, it sort of got longer.” Indeed, Dean Archer stepped in for the departing Ethan Choi (Brian Tee) as attending physician in Chicago Gaffney Medical Center’s ER during Season 7 and Weber has been a regular ever since — a fact that seems to amaze him, since Archer did some very questionable things during Season 6.
Dean Archer did some very reckless things during his first season on Chicago Med
Fans might not remember it now, but Dean Archer did some very iffy things when he first popped up on “Chicago Med” during Season 6. When he visited The One Chicago Podcast, Steven Weber recalled one crazy moment from the early days of his character’s run. “He was doing a couple of things that now, basically in the canon of the show, we’ve sort of conveniently forgotten about,” the actor said. “I mean, at one point, I think I took out some guy’s kidney without his approval. I sedated him, pulled it out. It was really dark, and that’s why he was gonna kind of end.”
It’s not like Weber was hoping to convince the producers to extend his stay on “Chicago Med,” as he was very excited about playing an edgy character who was destined to die tragically. “That was dark and interesting, and I was going to apply some things that I’d known,” he declared. Later in the podcast, he said that he even made Dean a bit like his Korean War veteran father. His character has become a popular colleague, friend, and lover on “Chicago Med,” and now Dean and his best friend Hannah Asher (Jessy Schram) are having a baby. Who knows, maybe we’ll see Archer’s death play out at some point, but it doesn’t seem likely to happen anytime soon.