Sumith Prasad
When Dr. Kincaid Sullivan gets shot in the fifth season of FOX’s medical series ‘The Resident,’ her father Dr. Ian Sullivan arrives at Chastain Park Memorial Hospital to take care of her daughter. Kit Voss makes use of his unexpected visit to hire Sullivan as Chastain’s new pediatric surgeon. The sixth season follows Sullivan’s struggles with prescription drugs as he fails to even operate without taking them. In the third episode of season 6, he gets asked to not operate for a week by Kit, making the viewers wonder whether he will get eventually fired from the hospital. Well, here’s what we can tell you about the same! SPOILERS AHEAD.
Will Dr. Sullivan Get Fired from Chastain?
After knowing about Dr. Sullivan’s drug addiction from Cade, Conrad Hawkins initiates a drug test at Chastain. Upon realizing that he will get positive for Benzos, Sullivan prescribes himself another medication just for the sake of telling Kit and Cade that he had a false positive for Benzos. Kit asks him to take another test after one week. If Sullivan tests positive for Benzos again after one week, his career at Chastain may get threatened. A drug addict surgeon who will endanger his patients’ lives must be the last thing Kit wants at her hospital. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that he will get fired right away.
Although Sullivan is struggling with his drug addiction, the show may follow his journey of dealing with the same within Chastain, with his daughter Cade and other supportive colleagues around him. According to co-creator Amy Holden Jones, Sullivan’s storyline is an integral part of season 6. “When you have an asset like this who is so important for the health of the community and children… what does a hospital do — and what does a family do — when you realize that he has a problem that actually could ultimately endanger himself, but also endanger patients?” Jones previewed Sullivan’s storyline in an interview with TVLine.
It is unlikely that Kit, Cade, Conrad, and others will abandon Sullivan when he deals with a severe obstacle in his life. One thing we know for sure is that Chastain’s doctors always extend their support to one another. We can expect the same in Sullivan’s case. Kit may grant him a long absence from duty if necessary for him to get better and return to surgery rather than firing him. Kit knows how valuable Sullivan is; not only as one of the best surgeons in his field but also as a magnet who can attract funds to the hospital in such troubling times. She may not want to lose such a person without giving him an opportunity to get better.
Is Andrew McCarthy Leaving The Resident?
The possibility of Dr. Sullivan getting fired from Chastain must have alarmed the viewers concerning Andrew McCarthy’s commitment to the show. However, neither FOX nor Andrew McCarthy has released any announcement regarding the actor’s departure from ‘The Resident.’ McCarthy was promoted to a regular cast member from a recurring capacity ahead of the sixth season, which indicates that the actor most likely will not depart from the show after a handful of episodes. Even if Sullivan has to leave Chastain temporarily or permanently, his storyline may remain a part of the sixth season’s narrative.
As per Amy Holden Jones, Cade will play a major role in Sullivan’s sixth-season story arc. “The journey of the family member who wants to save their other family member is a really excruciating one and a heartrending one, and also can be a hopeful one,” Jones told TVLine in the same interview. “Who you can save and who you can’t is one of the themes of the season, because you can’t ultimately save everyone, in a hospital or in life. How far do you go to save them? What can you do? And generally at Chastain, our doctors go to the very end to save people,” she added.
Jones’ words indicate that rather than McCarthy’s sudden departure, we may see Cade trying to help Sullivan to recover from his drug addiction. Since such a narrative development is yet to happen, we believe that McCarthy will most likely continue featuring in the medical drama.
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