Spoilers ahead for Season 5, Episode 3 of The Resident, “The Long and Winding Road.”
Fox medical drama The Resident said goodbye to one of its own in the most recent episode. In August, it was announced that series star Emily VanCamp had exited the series ahead of Season 5, with only a hint of how her character, nurse practitioner Nic Nevin, would be departing. That storyline was the main focus of the October 5 episode, however, coinciding with VanCamp breaking her silence about the decision to leave The Resident after four seasons.
The third episode of The Resident’s fifth season was emotional and heartbreaking from start to finish, as it immediately followed up on last week’s cliffhanger when cops showed up at Conrad’s door to give him the news about his wife being in a car accident. Although the doctors at Chastain did everything in their power to save their friend and colleague, it was revealed that due to the impact of the crash, Nic was left brain dead. Emily VanCamp spoke to Deadline about her exit and her time on the medical series:
It’s such a bittersweet moment for me. I loved doing The Resident so much for the four years I was on it. Oftentimes you hear about someone exiting a show because something bad had happened or there was some bad blood. But in this case, it’s the exact opposite. There’s nothing but love and respect between all of us and this decision was not an easy one for anybody but it was the right one for me, personally. I’m grateful that I was met with understanding and compassion.
News of her exit from The Resident broke just days after Emily VanCamp announced on Instagram that she had given birth to her daughter with hubby Josh Bowman, which was itself a surprise to many fans, as the actress kept her pregnancy a secret. After hearing that, it wasn’t too hard to piece together why VanCamp decided to leave, and now she’s confirming that she just wants to be with family. In her words:
We started talking about [my leaving] awhile ago. I spent so many years on network television, but then suddenly priorities shifted. I think there comes a moment in every woman’s life—in every person’s life—where it becomes less about work and more about family, and that’s what happened while I was making the show. Doing that many episodes in a different city and then you add Covid to that, most of us couldn’t see our families for almost a year. It really solidified for me that family is where my heart is at the moment.
Emily VanCamp’s exit on The Resident was cathartic, if sudden, and reflected the idea of close families for not only the actress, but for Nic as well. The nurse practitioner was surrounded by her friends, colleagues, husband, father and her daughter, and as she was wheeled down to surgery for organ donation, the hall was filled with Chastain staff as they remembered her. It was a beautiful and heartbreaking tribute to a wonderful character, and it shows that VanCamp and Nic, will always be part of The Resident. Hopefully she can return in flashbacks (if not a nightmarish Halloween episode) so we can still see her!
New episodes of The Resident air Tuesdays at 8 p.m. EST on Fox, along with everything else populating the 2021 Fall TV schedule.
