Malcolm-Jamal Warner previews the Fox medical drama's return.
The Resident is taking a different approach when season 4 kicks off: The pandemic won't be the central focus for the doctors and nurses at Chastain Park Memorial Hospital. Taking a page out of Last Man Standing, it'll be moving past COVID after the first episode.
The premiere, which will see Conrad (Matt Czuchry) and Nic (Emily VanCamp) get married some time after the pandemic, will flash back to the early months of the coronavirus with the first case entering the hospital, as well as the doctors and nurses that will be directly affected by it.
But it won't be all doom and gloom. As AJ (Malcolm-Jamal Warner) prepares to see a patient, Mina (Shaunette Renée Wilson) arrives in the nick of time to help him suit up before he goes into the operating room in ET's exclusive clip.
"It's working," Mina confirms as AJ clicks the futuristic medical helmet into place while giving off more-than-friends vibes at the same time.
He lovingly stares at her for a few seconds too long before he finally speaks, and we're 99.9 percent sure he's not talking about the helmet: "Yeah, it is."
Watch the exclusive clip from the season 4 premiere, only at ET, below.
ET's Rachel Smith spoke to Warner about The Resident fast-forwarding through the pandemic for season 4.
"What's interesting is there are a lot of considerations at the beginning of the season, like do we deal with the pandemic but is the season going to be so pandemic-heavy that every scene is cast with masks on and six feet away? At the end of the day, the consensus was the audience was not going to watch the full season of a show of people in masks. What we're doing is past the first episode, it's not post-COVID, but post-pandemic to allow for everything else that the show gives to us -- the relationships and what have you -- that I’ve always loved about the show and what the audience loves about the show," Warner said. "The truth and the honesty and the courage to deal with issues that concern the medical industry, the not-so-flattering topics n the medical industry, while still paying homage to the health care workers, but also shedding light on some of the issues within the health care system."
The 50-year-old actor also had a message for frontline workers risking their lives on a daily basis to help care for the affected.
"To all of the frontline workers, health care workers, you are literally putting your life and health at risk for this country, and we appreciate you," he said. "I hope you know and that you feel how much our country appreciates you, at the end of the day, for your patriotism. Like, for real, for real, you are responsible for keeping our world going on, and thank you."
The Resident premieres Tuesday, Jan. 12 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Fox. For more on the series, watch below.
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