‘Chicago Med’s Steven Weber Doesn’t Need Maury To Know Who Fathered Asher’s Baby; Talks Evolution Of His Character & Love Overcoming Fear—DEADLINE Q&A

Baby news on NBC‘s Chicago Med and Chicago Fire has fans in a tizzy since watching the show’s respective season finales.

To ease some tension, Steven Weber, who plays Dr. Dean Archer on Chicago Med, answers many of our burning questions about the finale, plus shares insight into what Season 11 could look like.

In review, the recent Season 10 finale of Chicago Med saw Dr. Hannah Asher (Jessy Schram) knock on someone’s door, to reveal that she is pregnant. The set-up was a bit of trickery, leading viewers to believe Asher went to see her ex-boyfriend, Dr. Mitchell Ripley (Dr. Mitchell Ripley); however, the final beats of the episode showed it was Dr. Dean Archer on the other side of the door.

The baby wasn’t planned and took Asher by surprise, but perhaps not as shocking as it was for Archer and the viewers, who never knew the colleagues had ever hooked up. The pairing was long teased but believed to have gone in a different direction when Allen MacDonald joined the show as showrunner and executive producer, ahead of this season. But alas, he was merely saving the surprise for the season finale.

Yes, we are shooketh.

Weber sat down with Deadline at ATX TV Festival, where he spoke on a One Chicago panel alongside Chicago P.D.’s Marina Squerciati. In our chat with Squerciati, posted on Friday, she addressed the too-short Burzek wedding and what will happen with Voight next season.

In our interview with Weber, we had baby on the brain. Is Archer the father of Asher’s baby? What does the future hold for them? Is Archer okay with being an older dad? Boy or Girl? More on all of this below.

DEADLINE: What can you share about those final beats of the Season 10 finale, when Archer opens the door, finding Asher outside with some news?

STEVEN WEBER: I think if you follow the breadcrumbs, you’ll see that it’s most likely that Archer is the father. A few episodes back, I think it was in “The Book of Archer,” he and Hannah have an equally ambiguous encounter. If you relax for a second, it makes sense that they might have hooked up or connected in some way that is interesting and challenging. There’s nothing 100% definitive here, but you should put your money on Dean.

DEADLINE: If the baby storyline plays out for Archer, could this be a second chance for him, given his complicated relationship with his now adult son?

WEBER: I think having him establish himself in a healthier way as a parent is obviously an option that the writers and he would look forward to exploring. But it’s not going to be easy. You don’t suddenly drop decades of a kind of response to vulnerability that he perceives as danger and become a great loving dad who sings Coochy, coochy, coo, and all that stuff. It’s gonna be challenging. Jesse Schram and I have spoken with Alan MacDonald and expressed ourselves with the hope that, yes, it would be difficult and challenging. The audience is a lot smarter than people give them credit for. I think they want something challenging, not something that’s just the easy answer, because it would rob both characters. They have a vitally important dynamic, which keeps people on edge, and it reflects how it would be more realistically dealt with.

DEADLINE: I think Archer would be a great girl dad. What say you?

WEBER: I think he’d be great. I think it’d be fantastic. It’s funny, because I’m the parent of two boys, and it’s very different than being the parent of girls. There are certain things that are expected of a parent, in any event, but being the parent of a boy would be pretty good for Dean. The parenting he received most probably was not good, and the parenting of his son, Sean, was, for the most part, not good, until very recently. So it would be interesting for him to have that chance to start modeling good, healthy male behavior. However, maybe the way to do that is to have a daughter? It would be fascinating and great for him, given that his son is already an adult.

DEADLINE: Do you believe Archer will have any hesitation in wanting to be an older parent?

WEBER: He’d be 64 or 65 by the time this kid is born, but luckily, I’m in great shape. With that said, at any second, he could slip and fracture his head. There’s an ongoing conversation about older parents, especially older fathers. I have a couple of friends who are older fathers, who may not be around long enough, but on the other hand, they possess a kind of wisdom and love that a younger parent might not have, so it’s a trade-off. I think it’s one of his concerns, but he’s also feeling things for the first time that he hadn’t felt for years, which is a genuine love for Hannah. It’s not a romantic love, it’s a deeper, kind of interesting personal connection that has to do with vulnerability and a feeling of safety. I think that’s motivating him, or that could motivate him to want to be involved with this child, because he’s believing in himself more. Thanks, in no small part to Hannah.

DEADLINE: So if it’s not a romantic love, would Archer and Asher raise this baby more in a co-parenting situation?

WEBER: I think more of a co-parenting thing. They’re both acutely aware of their strengths and their weaknesses. I think it would be very important for him to let Hannah take the lead here, especially with her issues with her sister’s inability to have a child and all that stuff, and her issues with being parented, probably harshly and unhealthily. I think it’s more of a co-parenting situation, but again, you never know.

DEADLINE: Archer has come a long way since we first met him in Season 7. What has playing the role been like for you through all his evolutions?

WEBER: When he was first on the show, he was originally conceived in a way that would have him leaving the show in a rather violent way after four or five episodes. He was a guy with a military past. He had terrible PTSD, and that’s what was going to be the explanation for what was going to be a violent demise. But I think the writers saw that that was an opportunity to explore the mental health issues that many veterans experience. The fact that my father was a Korean War veteran allowed me to find a connection to this character. And so over time, it allowed me to connect [Archer’s] often anti-social behavior and brusqueness to what was going on with him psychologically. And again, I think the writers liked that, and they began including more of his backstory, which aided in his evolution into a more contented version of his originally explosive self, which helped the audience evolve in their understanding of him, too.

DEADLINE: A big part of his evolution this season has been his relationship with Lenox (Sarah Ramirez), rocky at times, but now more settled. What insight can you give into that?

WEBER: The thing is that Archer was able to see a character that he knew very well. He saw how people saw him and perceived him when he first got to Gaffney. The advantage was that he had a few years of evolving and understanding himself in a way that Sarah Ramos’ character Lenox, hadn’t had. Immediately, the first thing he did was get into his fighting stance. I think he backed off because he realized that it would lead nowhere. He has a much better understanding of how he needs to be, how he lives, and how he fits into this world. His understanding has helped Sarah’s character evolve more quickly.

DEADLINE: It hasn’t really been discussed if Archer has been affected by the situation with Ms. Goodwin (S. Epatha Merkerson) when he saved her from being killed. Do you think he has been?

DEADLINE: It was interesting because while his instincts as a soldier and as a doctor kicked in, what was added to that was having feelings for somebody. I think he loves Sharon in a way that he may not understand. Not in a romantic way, but as a peer. And also, it was probably very easy for this guy, who’s from a different generation, to view women a certain way, as weaker, or he objectifies them, or all that bs. But he saw this woman of such strength and command, who is also able to be vulnerable. And it’s not weak, it’s not weakness, it’s power for him to care for her. So the fact that he was able to help her and save her life was affirming for him, not only as an individual, but in this new world that he’s finding himself in.

This story has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.