The Resident Season 5 Release Date, Cast, And Plot - What We Know So Far

The hit series "The Resident" stars Matt Czuchry of "Gilmore Girls" fame as Conrad Hawkins, a senior and later chief resident at Chastain Park Memorial Hospital, who is constantly trying to do what's right in an often frustrating healthcare system. The show follows Conrad and other employees of Chastain Park — including Nic Nevin (Emily VanCamp), Conrad's future wife — as they try to save lives, tangle with the hospital bureaucracy, and connect with one another. Based on the book "Unaccountable" by surgeon Marty Makary, the show also stars actors Bruce Greenwood, Malcolm Jamal-Warner, and Morris Chestnut, among others.

So far, the show has aired 71 episodes, having recently concluded a fourth season, and a fifth season is on the way (per Deadline). With the Season 4 finale having only just aired, however, fans may be hungry for information about the next season and where the story will next take the characters.

Here's what we know so far about the upcoming fifth season of "The Resident."

Updated August 11, 2021: This article has been updated with confirmed information on the premiere date for Season 5.

Fox greenlit "The Resident" for another season months ago, and for a while after that, the release date remained unknown.

In the past it's been part of the regular fall schedule, so most fans assumed that the series would return some time in September or October, but the complications of the COVID-19 pandemic have made such divinations less accurate than they once were. Fortunately, Season 5 appears to be on track production-wise — Fox officially announced that "The Resident" will return on September 21, when it will reclaim its 8/7 Central time slot (via TVLine). 

Fox has even released a very non-revealing poster to get fans hyped for the new season. This poster features Czuchry all by his lonesome, standing with his back turned to the camera. It also comes with the ambiguous tagline, "Healing starts within." What does it mean? Guess we'll all find out in September.

While lead actor Matt Czuchry, Bruce Greenwood, and Emily VanCamp are almost certain to return for the next season of "The Resident," at least one cast member left the show for good last season, while another is dropping in status from a regular to a recurring actor.

Actress Shaunette Renee Wilson and her character Mina left "The Resident" in the Season 4 Episode "Into The Unknown," with Mina returning to Nigeria voluntarily rather than be deported, putting a halt to her romance with A.J. — Wilson herself requested to leave the show, and the characters incorporated her departure into the story onscreen. Meanwhile, Anuja Joshi, who was introduced last season as Dr. Leela Davis, will now be a regular starting with Season 5 (per TV Line). 

Actor Morris Chestnut as Dr. Barrett Cain has been the character you often hate to love, but fans will have to get used to seeing less of him. Having been cast as the lead in fellow Fox series "Our Kind of People," Morris Chestnut is going to be pretty busy. The actor isn't entirely leaving "The Resident," but he'll instead become a recurring cast member and make fewer appearances than he did as a regular.

Season 5 of "The Resident" will likely follow up on any number of plot threads from the previous year. This includes Nic giving birth at Chastain to her and Conrad's daughter, Georgiana, as well as Chastain CEO Kip doing business with Big Pharma, much to Conrad's dismay.

It seems that parenthood will be a major theme of "The Resident" this season. With the birth of their child, Conrad and Nic will be juggling the responsibilities of parenting alongside their medical careers. Jake and Greg similarly adopted a child together, Sammie, at the end of the season. The families and lives of the characters are expanding even as others deal with tragedy.

Thus, it's likely that the show will also grapple with the full ramifications of A.J.'s recent struggles. Not only did his girlfriend leave the country thanks to his coworker, but his adoptive mother went through near-terminal lung cancer. Hopefully A.J. will be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel soon enough.

If you want to catch up on previous seasons before the fall, you can stream all four seasons of "The Resident" on Hulu.