There’s no place like home for Brian Tee, who’s making a return to Chicago Med in Season 9 following his Season 8 exit from the NBC medical drama. You won’t see him on screen, though — he’s coming back to direct Episode 11.
“The career path is such an uphill journey of dreams, and I’ve been fortunate enough to climb a few mountains,” Tee told Deadline, which reported the news of his next directorial turn. “But no matter how far I may go, it’s always so special to be able to go back home and feel grounded in your own backyard.”
He added: “The Chicago Med set is my home away from home… I’ve met the best and the dearest on this show, and it fills my heart to be able to go back and see them all again. In this business, projects come and go, but it’s the relationships you make that continue. I’ve been extremely fortunate to have made some great ones at [production company] Wolf [Entertainment], NBC, and, of course, Chicago Med.”
Tee starred on Chicago Med for the first eight seasons, playing Dr. Ethan Choi. He left midway through Season 8 to enjoy more time with his family and pursue opportunities as an actor, director, and producer, as Deadline reported. “Playing Dr. Ethan Choi on Chicago Med has been such a gift and a blessing,” he told the site at the time. “I am forever grateful to our fans and my colleagues both in front of and behind the camera as I embark on a new journey.” (Tee returned to the set later that season to direct the episode “Know When to Hold and When to Fold.”)
The actor stars in the recent Prime Video miniseries Expats alongside Nicole Kidman, Sarayu Blue, and Ji-young Yoo, and he’ll appear as a season regular in the third season of Prime Video’s Reacher.
Tee is also producing an anthology limited series titled The Scapegoat — the first season of which will adapt the Mike Weedall historical novel Iva: The True Story of Tokyo Rose — and shopping it to streaming and premium cable outlets, as Deadline previously reported.
Chicago Med, Wednesdays, 8/7c, NBC
This story originally appeared on TV Insider