Fans of all three Chicago series on NBC were
more than pleased when the three hit shows, Chicago Fire, Chicago PD,
and Chicago Med came together for a two-night crossover
event.
Chicago
Med’s
Colin Donnel, who plays Dr. Connor Rhodes and Chicago Fire’s Joe
Minoso, who plays Joe Cruz, came together to talk about the crossover
and what it was like working with each other as well as the cast and
crew from the other two series.
“To pull together three casts of three
extraordinarily busy shows into one unifying story is just amazing to
me…. It meant a little bit more work for everybody, I think especially
behind the scenes.” Donnel said.
“Ultimately
I think it’s so worth it to give the fans such a unique experience of
being able to unify three separate shows that are within one universe,”
he added. “It’s totally unprecedented in television, especially right
now. It’s amazing to be a part of that.”
Minoso has been a part of the Chicago family
since 2012, but for Donnel the Med series is a tad bit new to him
and the rest of the cast as it first aired in November of 2015.
“I was thrilled that I was being invited to be a
part of such a cool series and being a part of a Dick Wolf universe and
I was a little familiar with the shows,” said Donnel.
“Right after this all happened, my wife and I went
back to the very beginning of Chicago Fire, season one episode
one and we got hooked…. We were so thrilled and every single episode got
me so excited to be a part of something that was so unique and so fun,”
he added.
Being a series regular from the start, Minoso agreed
that what the three cast have been involved in has been a whirlwind.
“You just hope that it goes beyond 13 episodes, then
beyond season one…. To know that we are now in the midst of a third show
and personally I’ve become such a fan of Chicago Med. They have
really great things going on. I think I can speak for Colin when I say
it’s been like such an awesome experience just watching this family
grow.”
Viewers of the show as well as Minoso and Donnel
could all say fans get a good glimpse of each characters’ personal lives
outside of their careers and maybe that is what’s so appealing for the
series.
“Every single character across all of these
Chicago shows has a story that we get to peek into. The writers do a
great job of shining a light on all of these characters,” said Donnel.
“That’s what makes it so appealing to an audience is because you fall in
love with each of them as you go along.”
Joe
Minoso explained how the positive chemistry between the cast of screen
is portrayed through the characters on screen as well.
“I don’t know how we’ve been so lucky as we have in
terms of all of the cast members that keep coming in…,” Minoso said.
“You hear horror stories when you’re a young actor about working with a
bunch of divas and we have not come across that really. Everyone that
keeps coming into the shows are just such a lovely people to work with.”
He went on to add “They’re true professionals.
They’re ready to just do their work and enjoy one another.”
Luckily for Colin Donnel, he had only heard great
things of the cast and crew and had no worries coming in as a new cast
member to the Chicago series.
“It sounded too good to be true how wonderful of a
group it was, but that’s exactly what I walked into,” Donnel said. “The
crossover was my first opportunity to step on another set aside from
Chicago Med. I have to say Joe was actually one of the first people
who came up to me when I came on the set. It was such a wonderful
welcome to the family.”
Minoso also touched on how important it is for the
characters to have “real moments.” He said after spending time with a
lot of these people you start to realize they do a lot of things to
distract themselves from their serious jobs.
As far as the crossover goes, it was something both
actors were greatly looking forward to from the beginning.
“I think Dick Wolf has really been reaching for kind
of a new look at how you produce television and this has been something
that has been on his mind from the very beginning…. It’s actually a real
honor for me to see it unfold,” Minoso said.
“They did such an exceptional job in putting this
whole thing together.”
Email
us Let us know what you
think.