Nic, a nurse practitioner at Chastain Park Memorial Hospital, died in Season 5 after suffering from a traumatic brain injury following a car crash.
Despite this, the character will be making a comeback in the show’s finale on Tuesday May 17, with co-showrunner Peter Elkoff explaining how.
Here is everything you need to know about VanCamp’s return to The Resident.
How Emily VanCamp Is Returning to ‘The Resident’ Season 5 Finale
VanCamp will be returning to The Resident in the form of flashbacks, Elkoff confirmed to TVLine on Tuesday, April 19.
Nic will appear in these scenes as a plot device for Dr. Conrad Hawkins (Matt Czuchry), who is still struggling with her passing and is considering how he might be able to move on in the future.
Elkoff explained to the publication: “He hasn’t been able to make a move and find that next love. He knows that he’s still stuck in the past, in a way, with Nic.
“At the top of Episode 23, he realizes he has to unstick himself, and he doesn’t quite know how to do it. He gets some good advice about it. And he’s basically circling the memory of this one night when Gigi was just born.
“He keeps going back to pieces of that night, because he thinks the answer of how he moves on is in that night… and he gets an answer, a realization that frees him in a certain way.”
Ekoff added that he and the show’s writers had been trying to figure out the right way to bring back Nic, and that VanCamp was all for appearing in the flashback scenes to help Conrad in his grief in a way that would “both free him and end that chapter.”
VanCamp’s exit from the show was first announced in August 2021, and her character was killed off in the third episode of Season 5.
After her exit, the Falcon and Winter Soldier star took to Instagram to pay tribute to her cast, producers, and writers, and her time spent on The Resident, alongside a moving video put together by Fox of Nic’s final moments on the show.
In her post, she said: “Thank you so much for four beautiful years! Feeling so much gratitude for the relationships I’ve gained, the stories I’ve had the opportunity to tell, and the many lessons I’ve learned from playing Nic Nevin on The Resident.
“Thank you to everyone who came on this journey with me and this wonderful character. Thank you to the most incredible cast and crew in television—I already miss you so much.”
VanCamp also took the opportunity to thank nurses for their tireless work, and their “patience, grit, and dedication” to their field that helped inspire her role.
The Resident airs Tuesdays on Fox at 8 p.m. ET.
