Steven Weber on Chicago Med: Is Archer the Father of Hannah’s Baby?

*Please note this article contains spoilers for Chicago Med.

Steven Weber was only supposed to be a part of Chicago Med for a short time, with his character, Dean Archer, meeting a “violent end” after just a few episodes.

That plan quickly changed, and now Dean Archer is a fan-favorite character on the series whose character development is about to get even more interesting. Because yes, Weber has all but confirmed that the cliffhanger at the end of Chicago Med Season 10 reveals that Archer is the father of Hannah Asher’s baby.

During the ATX TV Festival last week, Steven Weber, along with Marina Squerciati, participated in a One Chicago panel to discuss their respective shows. Weber answered the burning question about whether he thought Archer was the father during that panel, and later, I sat down with Weber to talk even further about his character and what’s next for Dean Archer and Hannah Asher’s relationship.

When asked about that cliffhanger scene during the panel, Weber said, “It appears that they hooked up at a key moment earlier in the season, and he might be a daddy.”

Then, during our interview, Weber expanded a bit on his reaction to that storyline and whether or not it surprised him.

“I was surprised that those two characters got closer the way they did. I’m not even talking romantically or anything, but just that they had more chemistry than each respective character had with other characters in a way,” Weber said. “That they found themselves together… I don’t think was necessarily the plan from the beginning, but I think the characters were observed, and the actors were observed having chemistry.”

“I love Jessy [Schram]. She’s great, and we get along so well that it transferred into our scenes,” he added. “The writers began to clock that and started writing to it. And I think that happened very organically and almost accidentally.”

“Once that happens, of course, even a person as jaded as myself could fall into the old trap of saying, ‘Wow, they’re going to get together.’ But I had to put the brakes on that, and not because of the perceived age difference, because one of the things that I gripe about is that, you know, they’re both adults. They’re both way into adulthood, and they’re not… nobody’s robbing any cradle here.”

“We were very surprised and happily surprised because it was so unexpected,” Weber continued. “It wasn’t a TV trope, and the writers realized that too, and so they kind of leaned into it a little bit but didn’t make it so easy for everybody. So the fact that it’s still mildly ambiguous about who the father is, to me, is more of just a TV tease and a trick, but I think it’s clear that he’s the father.”

As for what comes next, Weber said he believes it will be challenging, and viewers shouldn’t expect “happy parenthood” with the two of them.

“It’s gonna be difficult, because that situation would be.” Weber said something similar during the panel as well, noting that there had been conversations with Chicago Med’s showrunner, Allen MacDonald, about what that would look like next season and the hope that the story would be realistic — meaning a difficult path for both Dean and Hannah.

He was also asked during the panel whether he felt a romantic relationship between Dean and Hannah could work.

“It could, because it does. They’re both mature human beings; if they’re attracted to each other, it’s perfectly legal and moral,” he during the panel. “But we might not take that road. Again, the writers have proven that they can take expectations, and flip them, and make them more complex and nuanced. And I’m pretty sure they’re going to do that with this, too.”

The dynamic between Hannah and Archer also speaks to the development of his character, which has a lot to do with the decision to keep the character on the show instead of ending his story after a few episodes.

“My character was supposed to have kind of a violent end,” Weber told me. “For some reason, about midway through my five-episode arc, they saw the efficacy of having this kind of character in the mix. So they decided to not go with his originally scripted ending and bring him back the next season. In doing so, they had to kind of soften him a little bit, because in the original lead-up to his demise, he was doing some awful things.”

“He’s transitioned from somebody who’s apparently unfeeling, and terse, and rough, and brusk, to a person who has learned to soften his approach to people. But he hasn’t lost his passion, or his zeal, or even his stubbornness. I think a lot of his evolution is not so much — it is as much on the part of his coworkers and his audience as him,” he continued. “As we’ve glimpsed his backstory and what makes him tick, people have been less put off by his behavior, which can still be impolite at times.”

“You begin to understand people. Obviously, there’s a greater lesson there.”

Of course, this season of Chicago Med also introduced Dr. Caitlin Lenox, played by Sarah Ramos, who immediately became a source of conflict for Dean. During our interview, Weber discussed their dynamic a bit as well.

“She came in very much like Dean came in. The only difference is that, as we say, my character has evolved, and the appreciation of him has evolved as well,” Weber explained.

He said that though his character was “back to his old fighting stance” with Lenox, realizing that she also had a military background helped him relate to her. “I think she took advantage of that too — the character did — and was able to kind of let her guard down a little bit.”

Weber also talked about a couple of key episodes for his character from the past season, including the “Acid Test” episode and the more intense, “Book of Archer” episode.

Weber told me filming the “Acid Test” episode was “Really fun.”

“The irony was that I didn’t have to do anything outrageous. All I did was make Dean happy and vulnerable and relaxed. And that was seen as him going crazy on an acid trip! Isn’t that funny? So it really just resulted in him dropping his guard,” he explained. “But it was a fun episode. It was fun to kind of freestyle a little bit, and everybody seemed to enjoy it.”

His favorite episode to film during Season 10, though, was also one that offered its own set of challenges.

“The whole episode, ‘The Book of Archer,’ was really good. It gave me a chance to become that actor that I always wanted to, that kind of — Viola Davis, Daniel Day-Lewis, deep dive,” he said. “And I realized that it’s hard to do, and kind of robs you of some pleasure because it’s hard to shake. It’s like saying, ‘I wanna swim the English Channel,’ and forgetting that you’re going to get soaked. I got soaked in it. I was doing it all day, every day. So it was fun to do. The writing was great on that; the direction was great on that.”

“I had a scene in particular at the end with Jessy on the roof of the hospital that was very meaningful to me, and very specific,” Weber continued. “A lot of it didn’t make air because you have to cut for time, and that’s an issue, and I think that was really satisfying to do.”

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Chicago Med returns this Fall to NBC.

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