The Resident co-creator Amy Holden Jones knows that the Fox series’ long-term future is ultimately out of her hands. But as the medical drama embarks on its sixth season — bringing inevitable speculation about the show’s endgame — Jones, at least, feels that its creative pulse is still plenty strong.
“I consider it to be one of the biggest triumphs of The Resident that what we’re doing is showing people’s evolution — the lives of being doctors over time,” the EP tells TVLine, when asked if the show’s creative team sees the upcoming episodes as a potential stopping point. “I watched ER when it was on years ago, and I never found it got old. They changed characters, new doctors came in, ones we thought we couldn’t live without left, just as it’s happened to us. It reinvented over and over and over again and remained fresh. [The Resident] has that potential.”
Of course, Jones concedes that the series is at the mercy of TV executives and business decisions: The Resident has regularly been on the renewal bubble each spring, and its pickup for Season 6 came notably later than usual during this May’s Upfronts week, due to behind-the-scenes negotiations.
“The fate of the show is somewhat caught up in the fact that it’s owned by Disney but shown by Fox, which is not an ideal scenario… And that’s also tied up with the fate of the network drama, which, God only knows, at this point,” Jones admits with a laugh. “The ratings are incredibly stable. We have a very core audience that just loves us, and if we have a chance, I’m sure we will continue to grow. It has the potential to go on and on, but whether it’ll be given that shot, I don’t know.”
And though The Resident has had its share of cast turnover — including the exit of pivotal player Emily VanCamp last season — Jones believes that its procedural elements still make the show accessible to new viewers in Season 6.
“It’s my fondest hope that people will realize you can pick it up at any time. If you started the season and had never seen one before, you would have no trouble following and engaging and learning who they are,” she continues. “I hope it keeps going.”
The Resident returns for Season 6 on Tuesday, Sept. 20 at 8/7c.
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