New Amsterdam is finally on the verge of returning to NBC in the 2023 TV premiere schedule, but the end is nigh for the medical drama. With the series finale airing in just a couple of weeks, there are plenty of stories that have yet to be resolved. The fall finale revealed that Helen is back in town just as Max was ready to move forward with a relationship with Elizabeth as one more complication before the end, and actor Tyler Labine previewed to CinemaBlend what’s on the way in 2023.
Helen didn’t appear in the flesh in the final episode of 2022, but Freema Agyeman appeared in footage with the character giving an interview on TV. The promo for the winter premiere on January 3 reveals that Helen will reach out to Max via text at the very least, and he’s not in the same state of mind that he was at the beginning of the season.
When Tyler Labine, who has played Iggy through that character’s considerable highs and lows over the past five seasons, spoke with CinemaBlend, he weighed in on what Helen’s return means for Max and the rest:
It is going to create some ripples, that is for sure. There is a big rock being tossed in the pond, so we're gonna see some stuff. There's gonna be some fallout from that. Max's friends and his connections are all going to be there for him, but that's tricky too, because we've watched him navigate really dark and depressing times, and learning how to get over Helen has been like the hardest thing he's ever done, I think, although he also lost his wife. So there's that. But there's a lot of heaviness there.
Fans can be happy to hear that Max’s friends will be there for him, especially after they went the extra mile to support him in the aftermath of Helen’s departure. They all have a lot on their plates at the moment, but evidently not so much that they can’t help him. After all, losing Helen was arguably the biggest blow for Max over the years other than Georgia’s death, so some “fallout” and “heaviness” may have been inevitable.
Tyler Labine went on to say that it’s “the same with Iggy,” and the reactions to Helen coming back to New York at this point near the end of Season 5 may not be the same as if she’d returned at the beginning:
[Helen’s return] would seem like a huge light, you know, a big beacon of something coming back, but we're gonna see how [Max] relies on these relationships now, and the work that he's put in to move forward. He's really gonna have to dig deep to see if that was what was taking him in the right direction. And he's got some new relationships to consider, to lean on.
In addition to the longtime friends he has been able to lean on, Max formed a close bond with Elizabeth that very nearly blossomed into a real romance... right before he found out that Helen was back in town, which will put those feelings to the test. It sounds like he’ll have some big decisions to make, and if the five seasons so far have proven anything, it’s that the mantra of “How can I help?” doesn’t mean that Max always finds a happy ending.
Of course, Jocko Sims (who plays Dr. Reynolds) also previewed that fans will get to know “a little bit more about the doctors” and their pasts, leading to “a wonderful ending that puts a nice, beautiful bow on this wonderful journey.” That certainly doesn’t sound like an unhappy ending to the medical drama! When I noted to Tyler Labine that Max has had an up-and-down season when it comes to relationships, the actor shared:
I think that that's very human too. We all want the perfect fairy tale kind of relationship, especially one that fans want so badly, and to get it dangled and ripped away sucks. That hurts. But what do you do in real life? What happens if someone leaves you? You're not going to stay alone forever because it would make other people happy. You have to sort of find what makes you happy. But I think this is going to be the real test here. That's going to be the challenge: if Helen is back, what's Max gonna do?
Freema Agyeman’s decision to leave after Season 4 meant an end to the beloved Sharpwin relationship, although the show did go out of the way to drop clues along the way that a happily-ever-after might not be in the cards for them. There was a full season left before the end, and New Amsterdam decided to let Max try to move on. As Tyler Labine said, it’s a “very human” thing for Max, but also raises some questions about how he’ll handle the “real test” on the way with Helen’s return.
Find out how Max and the rest handle the fallout of Helen turning back up in New York (and more) with new episodes of New Amsterdam on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC, starting on January 3 with the winter premiere. You can also revisit earlier days of the medical drama streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription.
