The stars of Fox's new medical drama talk to ET about their new midseason series.
The Resident may be the edgy medical drama you've been waiting for.
Fox's new midseason series kicks off when an idealistic young intern, Dr. Devon Pravesh (Manish Dayal), gets a dose of reality on his first day at Chastain Memorial Hospital shadowing Dr. Conrad Hawkins (Matt Czuchry), a third-year resident with a knack for practicing medicine in unconventional ways.
"I love this character's moxie. I love his strength. I love how he stands up for the little guy and I love that mystery, too: Do you like him? Do you not like him?" Czuchry told ET's Leanne Aguilera earlier this month at Fox's winter Television Critics Association red carpet. "But, you're going to grow to like him."
The Gilmore Girls alum noted that Conrad is a bit of a "bad boy" in the sense that he has a "Machiavellian" approach when it comes to certain parts of the job. "He's all about the patients and he's willing to stand up to the system for his patients," Czuchry added. "He'll do whatever it takes, maybe break the rules to save that patient's life."
Czuchry's co-star, Emily VanCamp, plays Nicolette, aka "Nic," a dedicated nurse whose mother died after something went awry in surgery, which prompted Nic's interest in playing a key role in the medical field.
"[Nurses] do everything and they are so underappreciated, so to be able to come on this show and be a real voice and a champion for all the nurses out there, [it] meant so much to me," VanCamp said. "She lost her mom to a medical error, so she's very sensitive to that and is really there because she wants to prevent that from happening as much as she possibly can and her patients mean everything to her, as you'll see as the season goes on."
To prep for The Resident, Czuchry and VanCamp went through unofficial boot camp to familiarize themselves with the complicated medical jargon.
"It is the worst!" VanCamp said. "Oh my gosh, sometimes we look at each other like, 'What have we gotten ourselves into?' But I have to say with Manish and Matt, we often have those scenes together and we end up finding a rhythm. Luckily, everyone comes prepared and does their part, but there's only so much you can do until you get there and have to be hanging the IVs and sticking the needles. It just never ends."
Czuchry added that he shadowed a doctor for a significant amount of time, interviewed several nurses and docs, read half a dozen medical books and watched a handful of documentaries before jumping into production on the show. "I really enjoyed that process of learning everything that I possibly could in that limited amount of time, so it's really been enjoyable to me," he shared.
The Resident debuts Sunday, Jan. 21 after the NFC Championship Game at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, before premiering in its regular time slot on Monday, Jan. 22 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.
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