CHICAGO MED — “Bound” Episode 106 — Pictured: Colin Donnell as Dr. Connor Rhodes — (Photo by: Elizabeth Sisson/NBC)
Joe Minoso and Colin Donnell
Meet Up in Sweet Home Chicago
by Landyn Gerace
Fans of all three Chicago series on NBC were more than pleased when the three hit shows, Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, and Chicago Med came together for a two-night crossover event.
Chicago Med’s Colin Donnell, who plays Dr. Connor Rhodes and Chicago Fire’s Joe Minoso, who plays Joe Cruz, came together to talk about the crossover and what it was like working with each other as well as the cast and crew from the other two series.
“To pull together three casts of three extraordinarily busy shows into one unifying story is just amazing to me…. It meant a little bit more work for everybody, I think especially behind the scenes.” Donnell said.
“Ultimately I think it’s so worth it to give the fans such a unique experience of being able to unify three separate shows that are within one universe,” he added. “It’s totally unprecedented in television, especially right now. It’s amazing to be a part of that.”
Joe Minoso in “Chicago Fire.”
Minoso has been a part of the Chicago family since 2012, but for Donnell the Med series is a tad bit new to him and the rest of the cast as it first aired in November of 2015.
“I was thrilled that I was being invited to be a part of such a cool series and being a part of a Dick Wolf universe and I was a little familiar with the shows,” said Donnell.
“Right after this all happened, my wife and I went back to the very beginning of Chicago Fire, season one episode one and we got hooked…. We were so thrilled and every single episode got me so excited to be a part of something that was so unique and so fun,” he added.
Being a series regular from the start, Minoso agreed that what the three cast have been involved in has been a whirlwind.
“You just hope that it goes beyond 13 episodes, then beyond season one…. To know that we are now in the midst of a third show and personally I’ve become such a fan of Chicago Med. They have really great things going on. I think I can speak for Colin when I say it’s been like such an awesome experience just watching this family grow.”
Colin Donnell in the Chicago crossover episode.
Viewers of the show as well as Minoso and Donnell could all say fans get a good glimpse of each characters’ personal lives outside of their careers and maybe that is what’s so appealing for the series.
“Every single character across all of these Chicago shows has a story that we get to peek into. The writers do a great job of shining a light on all of these characters,” said Donnell. “That’s what makes it so appealing to an audience is because you fall in love with each of them as you go along.”
Joe Minoso explained how the positive chemistry between the cast of screen is portrayed through the characters on screen as well.
“I don’t know how we’ve been so lucky as we have in terms of all of the cast members that keep coming in…,” Minoso said. “You hear horror stories when you’re a young actor about working with a bunch of divas and we have not come across that really. Everyone that keeps coming into the shows are just such a lovely people to work with.”
He went on to add “They’re true professionals. They’re ready to just do their work and enjoy one another.”
Luckily for Colin Donnell, he had only heard great things of the cast and crew and had no worries coming in as a new cast member to the Chicago series.
“It sounded too good to be true how wonderful of a group it was, but that’s exactly what I walked into,” Donnell said. “The crossover was my first opportunity to step on another set aside from Chicago Med. I have to say Joe was actually one of the first people who came up to me when I came on the set. It was such a wonderful welcome to the family.”
Joe Minoso in the Chicago crossover episode.
Minoso also touched on how important it is for the characters to have “real moments.” He said after spending time with a lot of these people you start to realize they do a lot of things to distract themselves from their serious jobs.
As far as the crossover goes, it was something both actors were greatly looking forward to from the beginning.
“I think Dick Wolf has really been reaching for kind of a new look at how you produce television and this has been something that has been on his mind from the very beginning…. It’s actually a real honor for me to see it unfold,” Minoso said.
“They did such an exceptional job in putting this whole thing together.”
Copyright ©2016 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: January 18, 2016.
Photos ©2016. Courtesy of NBC/Universal. All rights reserved.
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