#The Resident Season 4 to Sidestep COVID-19

Unlike the other medical dramas, COVID-19 will not be front and center on The Resident Season 4.

The FOX drama will take place in a post-COVID world, meaning vaccines have arrived, and it will focus on what comes after.

“You can’t ignore covid, and nor did we want to. We wanted to tell the story of covid, we wanted to honor all the frontline medical workers — of whom a bunch are our writing staff,” The Resident co-showrunner Andrew Chapman said in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

The reason for this is that the writers were writing the stories for the season in June, meaning that the world could be a completely different place when the drama got to return to the air.

“We thought that by the time we got on air — January, February, March of 2021 — not just the public but we as staff writers were going to be so underwater with covid and covid stories, and so sick of the pandemic and being locked down and the tragedy of it,” he explained to the outlet.

“We were trying to figure out a way that we can both honor the frontline workers and tell a story that’s compelling, so we made a sort of educated guess.”

It was previously reported that the series would address the pandemic in its fourth season premiere, and that is still the case.

Despite the narrative taking place in the near future, it will flashback to key moments during the pandemic, which will show the staff at the hospital pushed to the limit as they navigate the virus.

This is certainly different from how the other medical shows are dealing with the pandemic. Grey’s Anatomy Season 17 has put the pandemic front and center, even giving two of its characters the virus.

The Good Doctor Season 4 begun with the virus and killed off a recurring character as a result before moving the action to the future.

In the case of The Resident, it would have been tough to break a whole season of storylines, only for the pandemic to be gone by the time the series returns.

So, the decision certainly makes sense, and it will give fans some other things to look forward to on the new season, including the CoNic wedding.

What are your thoughts on the show sidestepping the pandemic in its fourth season?

Hit the comments below.

Remember, you can watch The Resident online right here via TV Fanatic.

Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.