It's been over a decade since the NBC medical drama ER aired its final season. There were discussions about reviving the series in 2020, but actor Noah Wyle says those talks eventually fell flat due to problems with the estate of creator Michael Crichton.
"That's kind of the road we had started down," Wyle, who played Dr. John Carter in ER, told the Still Here Hollywood Podcast. "I was getting all this mail from first responders and I had this desire to pivot the compliments to [producer] John Wells, so I emailed him and I said, 'Hey, I'm getting all this lovely mail from people that are thanking us for keeping them entertained, or inspired them to go into the careers that they're in the first place, and I just have to say thank you. Except for my children, [ER] is probably the best thing I've ever done with my life, and I just want to say thanks.'"
TV's most iconic doctors often go against the grain but offer audiences a tremendous amount of heart and bravery, making them unforgettable.
"Then I went on and I said, 'I know you don't want to reboot the show. I don't either. I thought it was very smart not to franchise and dilute what we did. But if you've ever wanted to do something much smaller, and much more contained - more of a character piece catching up to an old character and just finding out how they feel about what's happening right now in healthcare, and use them as a jeremiad opportunity to say what you want - I would vote for that. I'd be on board for that,'" Wyle continued. Wells and Wyle managed to get a few old ER writers on board for the project. However, it never got off the ground.
The procedural genre is one of the mot popular in television history, and it has produced several iconic shows over the years.
ER Set The Standard For Medical Dramas
ER chronicles the lives of staff members at the fictional Cook County General Hospital in Chicago. The cast featured Anthony Edwards as Dr. Mark Greene, George Clooney as Dr. Doug Ross, Sherry Stringfield as Dr. Susan Lewis, Noah Wyle as Dr. John Carter, and Eriq La Salle as Dr. Peter Benton. During its 15-season run, the series took home 124 awards from 419 nominations, with its highest accolade being a 1996 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series.
The series also featured up-and-coming actors in minor roles, such as Octavia Spencer, Anton Yelchin, Taraji P. Henson, Mena Suvari, Gabrielle Union, Kristin Davis, Janel Moloney, Shia LaBeouf, Josh Radnor, Lucy Liu, and Aaron Paul, among others.
All 15 seasons of ER are streaming on Hulu.