Chicago Med's Colin Donnell Appreciates How Dr. Rhodes Was Slowly Built Up

Dr. Connor Rhodes actor Colin Donnell left "Chicago Med" after its Season 5 premiere, capping off a run that lasted through each of its prior four seasons as one of the show's principal characters. Donnell felt satisfied with Dr. Rhodes' "Chicago Med" exit, he once revealed, praising the series' writers for their decision to conclude his character's storyline with some big time drama.

In fact, drama is inherent to Dr. Rhodes' arc, with major deaths among his family and close friends defining his backstory, which viewers learn at one point led him to work in Saudi Arabia before moving to Chicago. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Donnell shared that he appreciates the manner in which the show slowly builds up Dr. Rhodes, as a result of its serialized format.

"One of the coolest things, I think, about scripted television is that every time you get a new script, you get to learn a little more about your character," he said. "Really, I just love learning these things. Nothing that they introduce every episode makes me go back and be like, 'Well, I wish I would have done that differently.' We talked before we went in. We had an idea of who the guy would be, and who Connor is, and everything has been built on top of that."

Donnell likewise praised showrunners Andy Schneider and Diane Frolov for their openness to conversation, characterizing the way they gradually established Dr. Rhodes as a collaborative process.

Colin Donnell further discussed the show's approach to Dr. Connor Rhodes in an interview with The Knockturnal, which opens with a question about what he enjoyed most during the process of developing his "Chicago Med" character.

"I think the overall progression of Connor from day one to where we are now is such a sort of brazen alpha dog," he said. "It's been a joy. Every time we get a new script it's like a little bit more that gets revealed about him."

During the time he appeared on "Chicago Med," then, Donnell seems to have particularly relished the process of developing Dr. Rhodes from episode to episode, while fans were effectively learning about the character at that same, gradual pace. Of course, now that his series tenure is over, so too is Dr. Rhodes' story. Nevertheless, fans can still tune into "Chicago Med" and see how the rest of its cast continues to benefit from this sort of gradual character development.