The E.R. sensation is BACK! Finishing up its 14th season, Maura Tierney and writer John Wells give us some insight on season 14 and the FINAL season... 15! It will be a sad day for sure when we don't have new E.R. episodes to look forward to... but, we have no doubt that John Wells and the cast and crew will make sure it's a memorable ending! Take a look at the interview and see what Maura "Abby" and John have to say about it all.

Interviewer:        I wanted to ask both John and Maura this - Abby has been through probably more than almost any character in TV - just so many things. And first of all, John, why is she often the go-to character? What is it you see about this character that you like to come back with her, with the really hard stories? And Maura, overall - I mean, after playing her for awhile, how do you see this person overall? Let me start with the question for John.

John Wells:         You know, I also refer to it as writer Darwinism. Writers write to people who can really act and Maura’s an extraordinarily talented actress. And so you know that whatever you bring to the character she’s going to give you something that’s unexpected and moving, and wonderful. So Maura has sort of created that for Abby’s character by being so terrific. And I - you know, I know that that sounds like sort of an easy answer with Maura on the phone. But truthfully, you know, you go to - like in any business or sport, you go to the person who can really deliver for you and Maura proved, really right from the beginning, that she was never going to take the easiest choice in the scene - always was working hard to try to find something interesting to do with the character which is no small feat over the number of episodes that we do. And so Abby has gotten a tremendous amount to do because Maura has always been able to deliver sort of an extraordinary performance and character.

Interviewer:        Okay and so Maura, now - I mean, she’s gone through so many ups and downs. She’s done so many great things, made so many stupid mistakes and so forth. Overall, how do you see this person at this point?

Maura Tierney:    I - first of all, I just want to say thank you to John because that was a really nice thing to say. I really appreciate it. And overall, I don’t - I see the character as very human and I just - I sort of feel kind of - the direct kind of - not opposite, but it’s a reflection of what - the writers, I feel like, have taken great care of this character. I mean, it’s hard for everybody when you’re on a show for a long time to keep it interesting. And I think always Abby was really protected by the writers because, you know, they were always interested in keeping it real. And, you know, we’re - everyone matured. And I feel like the characters matured, but like what’s great about being able to play the same character for a long time is - you know, it’s like she sort of advances and learns a little but, but no one’s ever entirely sort of fixed. Your flaws or your weaknesses don’t entirely go away. And I feel like the writers were able to sort of mature her a little bit. And then you hit a speed bump and then she matures a little bit. So I think overall it’s just sort of a woman trying her best to, you know, grow up and (blessed).

Interviewer:        So she really is a two steps forward, one step back kind of life like most of us then?

Maura Tierney:    Yeah, that’s what I feel like. It’s - that’s exactly what I feel like, yeah.

John Wells:         And I think it - I think the character, you know, represents many of the things and has come to represent many of the things that people who work in emergency rooms go through. You know, it’s a very, very difficult place to work over time - you know, not unlike being in an air traffic control space or something where you’re under tremendous pressure. And we haven’t actually done anything with the character that didn’t come from real stories - things that we’d heard from nurses and physicians who work in the emergency room. So while, you know, seen in the context of the one character, you know, she’s come to represent women who - a certain type of woman who works and dedicates her life to this career and how they deal with the tremendous pressures of what happens to them on a day-to-day basis.

Maura Tierney:    They have the complexity of ones who have a child, too, and being a mother - working woman doing this. So it’s sort of, you know, morphed through all of these things.

Interviewer:        A question for John - so many of your projects, you know, you incorporate social ills and unrest, and sort of like political trends into your storylines. And I was wondering if you had any - if you could share what we might find in ER this season for the coming episodes? I know that you had covered the Sudan and the Congo in past episodes, in past seasons.

John Wells:         Well, you know, Noah - I mean, just on that issue, Noah Wyle will be returning to the show next year. You know, he has - he and I have always kind of had a long term arrangement about when the show was going to come to an end that his character returns. So because he has been off working in the volunteer and sort of Doctors Without Borders world for awhile -- his character has been -- I’m sure that’ll come back into it as part of his return. The - you know, what he has learned bringing it, you know, bringing it back into the ER. But, you know, we - it’s a little early to kind of figure it out for sure. You know, I think this next year is going to be very interesting through the political campaign with all the various proposals that are coming forward for healthcare. We’ve been on - this will be our fifteenth season next year and we began, in our first season, in the midst of the Clinton - of the first Clinton healthcare plan. In fact, you know, when we were lucky enough in that first season to end up on the cover of Newsweek, the headline was a healthcare plan that really works. And so it’s interesting that even though we’ve been on for 15 years, we are in exactly the same place with the exact same concerns in the healthcare system as we had 15 years ago. So I think we’ll be addressing the various proposals that come up and how those are practically - you know, how they’re going to be practically effective in the workplace, you know, for emergency room medicine and also just for medicine as a whole. You know, the system remains sort of tragically under funded and with tremendous problems, and I’m sure we’ll deal with all those issues - continue to deal with all those issues.

Interviewer:        I loved you in the - you had a small role in the film Diggers and I thought you did a really great job with it. And I’m from New - I’m from Massachusetts , too. I was wondering if you ever would develop a series or a play, or anything that would involve some of the rich characters that are in the town, North, South Shore , or Boston ?

Maura Tierney:    I wouldn’t probably do that because I grew up in Boston Proper. But, you know, my father was a politician and there’s a lot of rich characters in that world. He was on the Boston City Council for 15 years. That’s something that always interested me. And, you know, Boston is such a crazy political city. So I’d probably - if I were to do something like that, gravitate more towards something like that than Diggers which I also - I love that movie.

Interviewer:        After Abby’s many twists and trials, what does she current want from her life from Luka? And what would you like to see happen? And John, you can of course, answer.

Maura Tierney:    Well right now where we’re at in the show, because of the trials and tribulations, I think Abby just wants everything to be okay. She made a lot of mistakes and it’s this very sort of delicate moment in her personal life because she’s sort of got her professional life back together. Right now, what the writers are writing and what the character is struggling with is the kind of consequence of those bad behaviors and the story - the fact that saying I’m sorry doesn’t always make everything better. So at this point in the show, she’s just sort of hoping that she can get back sort of everything that she had. John?

John Wells:         I agree completely. You know, and we’re hoping - we like to send people off whole when they leave this show. And as Maura’s time on the show, sadly is coming to an end, I think we’d like to see that she’s found a little peace in her life.

Maura Tierney:    And I’d like Abby to go off physically whole as well.

Interviewer:        What support will Abby receive in her staying sober, and possibly from (home)?

John Wells:         Well I think for it to work, you know, you have to have your husband and your immediate family…available to you and there to support you. And I think, you know, for Luka he was pretending that she was in better shape. You know, the great difficulty -- obviously with anyone who’s struggling with alcoholism -- is accepting that it’s a chronic disease and that it never really does go away. And you have to remain ever vigilant to the dangers of falling back into drinking. And I think we’ve all be very proud and Maura’s done a wonderful job of performing it. And we’ve all been very proud of that storyline and the way it’s gone over the last year in saying, you know, it - no matter how long you have - you - it’s been since you took your last drink, you’re always an alcoholic and only one drink away.

Interviewer:        There’s some talk of Shane West coming back for an episode or two. Can you guys talk about that a little bit?

John Wells:         Well, you know, I love Shane and we would love to have him come back for some episodes. What we’re doing now is kind of planning or beginning the planning for the final season which will go on the air next September. And as part of that, we’ll be contacting really pretty much everybody, seeing who wants to come back and do a little spin.

Interviewer:        But he’s not set for like the rest of this season, in particular?

John Wells:         No. We haven’t set anybody at this point that I think that you don’t already know about. And - but, you know, I’ll be asking people who wants to come back and be part of the last season. And we’ll see who wants to do it and if we have storylines. But I love Shane and I’d love it if we could figure out a way to make that work.

Interviewer:        And you guys know that the Neela/Ray (shippers) are crazy.

John Wells:         You know, I’m on my third or fourth email address, so that would be my best way of answering that question.

Interviewer:        So after doing the show for so long, what’s it like for each of you to go to the doctor, like in real life? Do you find yourself, you know, like looking around the hospital for, you know, storyline ideas or picking up the jargon, or anything like that?

John Wells:         Maura, you want to do that one first?

Maura Tierney:    I find that I think I know a lot more than I actually do when I talk to them. But sometimes I do know. I mean, John, you do pick up stuff. It’s not like I think I’m a doctor. But I do feel like sometimes the information I’m receiving or the language I can use, it’s easier for me to understand stuff.

John Wells:         Yeah. And it’s scary to understand stuff. You know, there’s a lot of those words that they use because you don’t really want to know what it means.

Maura Tierney:    It’s true.

John Wells:         You know. I mean - yeah, (galapcholi) sounds very, you know, it sound very benign. But it’s actually sort of a miserable thing that you never want to have happen. The other thing I find that I do is I will try, you know, in my very pretentious way to sound like I know more than I do. And what I will draw from that is somebody speaking to me as if I’m actually a physician. And then - and so I’ll leave the room having - knowing absolutely nothing about my medical condition because I’m too embarrassed to say…too embarrassed to say well I just threw in a couple of words to try and sound smart, but now I have no idea what the hell you just said.

Interviewer:        Oh my gosh. And Maura, when your, you know, character comes to an end on the show is there anything, you know, from the set that you’re wanting to take with you as kind of, you know, a momentum of your time on the show? Do you want to take your scrubs with you? You know, anything like that?

Maura Tierney:    I will not be taking my scrubs with me.

John Wells:         That’s her Christmas gift from the show. We’ll give her a bunch of scrubs.

Maura Tierney:    I have started to eyeball the set, I’m telling you. That’s so funny you asked that because I’m like, hmm what do I want? And I want to be really specific and careful about what I lift from the set.

Interviewer:        But the scrubs are not an option? You’re over those?

Maura Tierney:    I’m not over them. I just - I want something a little more iconic.

Interviewer:       John, can you reflect back - I mean, I remember when the show premiered that we were all writing about ER versus Chicago Hope. I mean, are you - do you have any thoughts at all - I realize we’re a ways away from ending it, but do you have any time to sit around and think about how all this has gone?

John Wells:         You know, I think, like what often happens when you get involved in success and particular one that kind of enters that public zeitgeist thing that the show did at the beginning is it has very little bearing on what you’re doing day-to-day. You know, we were working very hard, trying to make the show, trying to make it as compelling as we could. And we didn’t really have a lot of time to worry about, you know, what Chicago Hope was doing or not doing or would we success or not succeed. Or you’re just really trying to survive at the beginning of a television series. And then right around the time of the end of the first season, we were kind of getting these forty shares and it all took off for the cast, in particular who, you know, could - went from kind of traveling in coach to being unable to walk through the airport without our providing them with security, you know. It sort of sunk in that this was going to be a bit of a ride. But we’ve really, you know, tried to stay focused on just making the show good and not pay too much attention to what I always sort of refer to as the world at the end of the telephone which has now kind of turned into the world at the end of the keyboard. And to just try and do a show that we were still proud of, and working with actors who we think are talented and want to do more work with, and trying to do stories about what’s really going on in the workplace. And I think one of the things that really hasn’t been discussed much about the show is that the thing that allowed it, I think, to continue as our cast members oftentimes moved on was that it’s really about a workplace and a workplace that’s not dissimilar from a lot of other people’s workplaces where it’s very pressured. You have very close friends. Your work family becomes as close to you as your own family even though you’d never really admit that at home. And I think that’s what people connected with over a long period of time. And I’ve been very proud of that - of the way in which we’ve been able to talk about issues that we thought were important and show the fallibility of the people that work there, and yet still admire them for the work that they do, you know.

Interviewer:        And Maura, you came onto a show about five years into and you’ve been on for, what it is, like nine years? And at least from what I have, you’ve done more episodes than -- except for Noah Wyle -- than any member of the original cast. Did you have any idea that this would turn into such a long term thing when you came aboard?

Maura Tierney:    No, I didn’t. But it just - I didn’t, but then it worked out that it was like such a great job. And the show kept going on, and they kept wanting me to stay there. So, you know, it was really a very, very fortunate thing for me.

John Wells:         We got her at a weak moment, too. She was coming off of News Radio…And we grabbed her up.

Maura Tierney:    Also another workplace show.

Interviewer:        My sister-in-law is a respiratory therapist and she’s kind of self conscious when people say that she’s just a respiratory therapist or just a nurse. It’s a sore subject with her, you know, especially if somebody said oh, you didn’t ever want to go be a doctor. And my - did either of you all ever get any negative feedback from nurses - any grief from them when Abby made the leap from nurse to doctor?

Maura Tierney:    John, do you want me to do it?

John Wells:         Yeah, why don’t you do it and then I’ll do it.

Maura Tierney:    Well I feel like it was much too (much) with you guys, that the writers sort of - they - I think the writers were really careful -- if recall correctly in the storyline -- about my character having these specific thoughts about - they wanted to make sure it was not portrayed as a promotion because it’s two different jobs. So I feel like when we did - when the character made the transition, that was addressed in terms of what my character had to say and how it was perceived with the other nurses in the cast - that it wasn’t like you getting a better job. It was like getting a different job because nurses are so vital. And it is a different job. Am I right, John?

John Wells:         Yeah. And we tried, you know, it was - we have a number of physicians who have worked on the show with us, either as - on the set as our technical advisors - full time technical advisors or on staff. And they were all very sensitive to that because emergency rooms really run off the nurses and, you know, and the - not just the nurses but also the physician’s assistants, the nurse practitioners, the respiratory therapists do a tremendous amount of it because the way in which the emergency rooms are set up, the doctors have very little time - individual time to spend with patients. And so we’ve tried to be very sensitive to that from the beginning. We - the only time we heard a lot about it actually was the first time we did something about it with Hathaway -- with Julianna Margulies’ character -- it was probably in Season 3 or 4 where someone actually confronted her in what we intended to be a scene in which showed the ignorance of the other person but which people in the nursing profession were offended by and which somebody said you’re too smart to be a nurse. And it was meant to be - you were not to like that character, but we got a lot of mail.

Interviewer:        Yeah. A sore subject with them a little bit?

John Wells:         Very much a sore subject. But, you know, when you talk to doctors that’s not the way they feel about the nurses, you know, and particularly in emergency room medicine where they’re so over-taxed and the nurses are basically providing all the primary care and the doctors or flying in and out of the rooms. So we’ve tried to be very careful about that.

Interviewer:        Okay. And for both of you, has your involvement in the show all these years made you more hands-on, more involved, more proactive about your own healthcare?

John Wells:         Maybe more paranoid about my own healthcare.

Maura Tierney:    That’s what I was going to say.

John Wells:         And I manage to terrify the members of my family, too, you know, with my, you know, half-baked information about things like, you know, people will say something - oh, you got to get that checked out. That could be lymphoma, you know. And so people freak out. So yeah - I mean, you know more and you’re concerned more. I think the thing that I have come to know from doing it and spending so much time around physicians and nurses, and ER personnel, and administrators is I think we have a tendency to think of doctors as scientists. And while what they do is based on science, it’s really an art and a very difficult art. And people make mistakes, not because they’re incompetent but because they are - there are many, many possible solutions to every problem that confronts them. They get it right a lot more often than they get it wrong. But it is a - it really is an art. It’s not a science.

Interviewer:        I’m just kind of curious - like how did it feel to come back and shoot the show after the strike? Did you guys feel creatively invigorated or did you have new ideas?

Maura Tierney:    John?

John Wells:         I felt relieved.

Maura Tierney:    Yeah.

John Wells:         You know, it’s very odd. You know, at the beginning of the strike we were positioned at the main entrance to Warner Brothers so everybody was driving past us and you’re out there walking around with a sign and eating pizza. And then when things really ground to a halt by Christmastime and there were a couple more months where nothing was going on, you know, for me it is missing the people that you work with. And, you know, it was very important things that we were striking over. But at the same time, I realized how much I actually just missed my work and the people that I get to work with.

Maura Tierney:    Me, too. I really did feel that way. It was very odd to not be working. It’s a little shock to the system, especially after, you know, being there - you’re there so many hours, so many days.

Interviewer:        And Maura, you know, as one of the -- I guess -- senior members of the staff, have you been passing on lessons to maybe some of the newer actors on the series, especially as you’re kind of on your way out now?

Maura Tierney:    No. I’m just kidding. I do want to say, though, I was at a junket the other day and someone said to me - as opposed to saying one of the - he called me one of the more elderly cast members. It was the elder - I was like wow, elderly. Yeah, but not - nothing different now. I mean, everyone on the show -- when someone new comes on -- pretty much understands how hard the job is in terms of just the - the medicine is demanding. So we’re all pretty nice to the newcomers, I have to say. So it’s not so different now than it ever was. If you have a little bit of experience, you try to take the heat off the person who you can tell is like freaking out right in front of you.

John Wells:         It’s very daunting coming onto the show because of the technical demands, both of the language and physically what you have to be doing, you know. So you’re walking, you’re talking, you’re moving. You’re trying to put on gloves. You’re trying to remember how to pronounce all these Latin words. You actually have a lot of physical activity that you’re required to do and required to do it at a very specific time. And…

Maura Tierney:    Right - very quickly.

John Wells:         And very quickly. And, you know, and people are - almost everyone, I think, has been intimidated when they began. You know, the example I always use is on - we cast Eriq La Salle on a Wednesday and on Thursday morning he showed up and had a ten page walk and talk a scene filled with medical dialogue in which he was doing most of the speaking. And he had to pull on - during the course of the walking and talking, he had to pull on two pairs of surgical gloves, do three examinations and then head into a surgery - all of it in a (oner). And, you know, that’s what it’s like when you come onto the show. There’s just a lot to learn in a hurry.

Interviewer:        Actually for John, I was just wondering - now with other popular medical shows like House and Grey’s Anatomy on the air, how does that force ER to continually evolve?

John Wells:         You know, it hasn’t really - not because I don’t admire the shows, but I don’t really watch them. And I have friends who work on all of them. It’s a little difficult. They’ll call me up and say hey, can you watch my - this episode or that episode I’ve written or that I’ve directed, or I’m acting in. But there aren’t that many different medical stories and so, you know, we’re always just looking for different ways to do them. And so I try to not be influenced by having seen something where I would say oh they just did that or they just did this. So we actually haven’t watched them. I was surprised at how long it took for another successful medical series to show up. You know, we were really sort of at the end of our eleventh season, you know, before Grey’s Anatomy moved in to do well. I’m most happy for them and then House roughly about the same time. I don’t remember exactly. So we had the world to ourselves for a long time and it was inevitable that someone else would do it well or, you know, find other variations on the kind of thing that we were doing because we were - when we started, we were finding variations on things other people had done before us. So - but it certainly has made a difference in the audience. You know, the audience finds new things. That’s the nature of anything that you do in the popular culture. And, you know, and I think ultimately if you can say that anything hastened the end of a 15-year series, the success of the other shows have reduced our audience and we want to be able to go out while we’re still doing well and still proud of what we’re doing. So that’s why we’re thinking that this coming season will be our last year.

Interviewer:        Maura, I was curious when this finally wraps, would you be up for jumping back into another medical show or are you going to stay away from that genre for awhile?

Maura Tierney:    I’m going to stay away from that genre for awhile. I mean, not because - just like even when I finished News Radio, I didn’t want to do another half hour sitcom right away. I just felt like - I felt like I would never do one that was so much fun or better because I loved that show. And I feel the same way about this one. I can’t imagine doing something that’s more fun for me or as challenging, or as interesting in this genre than this has been. So probably not.

Interviewer:        John, I’m just wondering, what’s the status on Electric Slide and how did you get involved with that?

John Wells:         Well we’ve been involved with Killer Films out of New York for many, many years, you know, helping support their operation and helped producing a lot of the films that they do. So that’s one of the films that we’ve been trying to get going for awhile. And if you have a few millions like you - that you’d like to throw into the production of an independent film, please feel free to call me afterwards. And - because we have a good script and we’re just trying to get the financing together.

Interviewer:        What I’ve noticed in the last couple of seasons for me personally is that the show really seemed rejuvenated creatively. And I’m wondering - you’ve sort of touched on this already, but I’m wondering if you could go into a little more detail on it. Why call it quits now? You’re just three shy of Law & Order’s record on the air. I’m just wondering why - obviously, you’ve thought about it quite carefully and you reached a decision that’s close to you. Why now? Do you not think that ER could have possibly gone on for another two or three, or four seasons?

John Wells:         Well first let me say thank you for thinking that we’re - that the show has been creatively rejuvenated. I appreciate it. It’s a personnel issue, honestly. We have - one of the reasons it’s been rejuvenated is we have a very strong writing staff led by David Zabel right now. And in my conversations with David, and kind of talking about how much longer he wanted to be committed to the show, he was - he’s thinking about you know, it’s time for him to move on in his career. Another aspect of that is Goran having said that he was prepared to move on and Maura, and other people in the cast beginning to come to the end of the period of time that they wanted to do with it. And I felt - you know, I wanted to make sure we were going out still very strong rather than waiting until we, you know, had stayed too long at the party. And so I felt strongly that we still had a very good show with a wonderful cast and that it was - and I wanted to be able to do it right. I - you know, I’ve been involved in a couple of (constant) series where we kind of just got to the end of a season and, you know, the network had let us know that we weren’t going to be able to continue and I didn’t get to wrap it up the way that we had wanted to or that we would have if we’d knew in advance. And I think for all of you who watch a lot of television and report on it, and review it, and critique it, there are many, many frustrations that we’ve had in the past of not being able to properly end series. And I just thought for a show that had been this successful, on for this long, that I wanted to really have the opportunity to write it correctly on its way out.

Interviewer:        There’s been talk that Anthony Edwards might return, possibly in a dream sequence. Obviously, Noah Wyle is the only one you’ve been able to confirm. Is that - is it just talk at this stage? Can you say anything about Anthony other than (unintelligible)…

John Wells:         You know, I haven’t talked to Anthony in awhile - to Tony in awhile. He did a wonderful thing last year. He and his family took off - he’s got a bunch of kids, he and Jeanine. And they went around the world for a year with a tutor and I haven’t talked to him since he got back. So I’m not quite sure where that rumor came from. I haven’t really thought about it. We sit down and - right around Memorial Day, the whole writing staff. It’s a terrible time. We go to Hawaii and sit around…and figure out what we want to do for the next year. And so over the summertime, I’ll start contacting people once we have an idea. You know, people aren’t going to come back unless - and some people may not come back at all under any circumstances. But they’re certainly going to want to know if we’re asking them to come back, what it is we’re asking them to do and what would they get to play. And we haven’t figured that out yet, so I really haven’t been contacting anybody.

Interviewer:        Well - so NBC is saying 19 episodes. I’ve heard 19 plus a finale. Sort of a numbers geek question, but is it 20 episodes including the finale or 19 including the finale?

John Wells:         Well they have told us 19 air dates…which is what the confusion is. They would like us to end the final week in February sweeps because…as everyone knows, the second quarter which is, you know, the May sweeps have gotten increasingly weak over the last few years. So I think they would like us -- for sales purposes -- to finish in February. And whether they end up…asking us to do a one-hour or a two-hour, I’ve just told them that by kind of - before Thanksgiving, you know, November 15 something like that - we need to know so we can plan adequately.

Interviewer:        Maura - in a lot of respects your character has been the heart and soul of the show. I mean, you go back to the sixth season, your - and I’m wondering whether you personally have had a chance yet to sort of sit back and comes to terms with, you know, the show’s place in history and the fact that, you know, looking at it season by season, in a way your character is sort of representative of the show? I mean, the show has gone through a lot of growth changes itself, but it kind of mirrored the changes in your character. And I’m wondering if you - I know you’re so busy working day to day, you know, call sheets and - but I’m wondering if you’ve had a chance to sort of sit back and think wow, you know, what - where is that going to go down?

Maura Tierney:    A little bit, yeah. I mean, I don’t think about it so globally because I’m an actor and therefore, narcissistic and more self-involved. You know, but I think about sort of me - but yeah. There are moments I’ll be on set and you get this sort of glimpse of - that I was part of this thing for a good (visit) that was this huge sort of phenomenon on television. And it’s sort of a big thing, so it’s hard to entirely wrap my mind around. But there are moments - just oddly, random moments where I’m on Stage 11 and you go wow, this is a very big deal. And the strike was also something - I mean, it was just very odd to be suddenly not - and unexpectedly, sort of not working on the show. And so there was a lot of time to reflect on what that feels like. So I’m sure - it’s just a - it’s a big deal. It’s a lot to think about. So specifically, I haven’t really given it so much thought. But it is there. Is that a good enough answer?

Interviewer:        I was going to ask you also about people might be coming back and I hadn’t heard what people were rumored besides Noah Wyle. Is George Clooney or Eriq La Salle, or Julianna Margulies - are these three people - are they among people who might be asked to come back or you’ve considered asking to come back, you think?

John Wells:         Well, you know, I would doubt - I love George. He’s a friend of mine. I would doubt very much that he would come back to the show. I know that’s the first question that everybody always asks. You know, I - we’ll sit down and try and come up with stories that would be appealing to the actors and then see if they have some interest in coming back and doing it.

Interviewer:        Why do you doubt he would be interested in doing that?

John Wells:         You know, he’s - I - a couple other things have come up in his life. He’s doing this and that.

Interviewer:        He’s too much of a big shot now to come back?

John Wells:         He’s doing this and that. Well, you know, I think that it can be difficult for people who have been away from a character for a very long time to come back and actually kind of put the cloak of that character back on. And so, you know, some people are more excited about doing it because they were ready to come back and sort of felt maybe they had something else to say about the character or looked forward to that opportunity. For other people, as they left it was very emotional to leave and difficult to leave, and they kind of wanted to be - they were ready to go. And so I can’t speak for them yet or know whether or not they’ll be interested or not. I would hope that at the very least we could kind of get everybody together to talk about the experience of the show. You know, I mean I don’t know whether NBC -- well I assume they will -- want us to do things like the Today Show, same as they did for Friends. And…I suspect that people will be very up for doing that. Actually putting the scrubs back on when, you know, it’s a little spooky, you know, if you’ve been out of something for a long time and there would be a lot of expectation for you to do it well. To actually step back in a role that you haven’t played for eight or nine years, you know, the ability to get back into that character and into that performance -- particularly for some of the people -- may be very difficult. So I can’t really speak for them, you know. I know that they’ll want to hear - because I know them all well and they all are - have a tremendous amount of integrity about their work and pride in what they do, that they will want me to be able to tell them exactly what it is the story would be. And so there’s no point calling until I know what the story might be and see if it’s something that interests them.

Interviewer:        Is there anybody else that you know who you think would be up for it or would tend to be more excited about it?

John Wells:         No. You know, because again, I haven’t really talked to anybody and I don’t, you know, some of the people I’ve lost contact with, you know, on sort of a regular basis. Some of the people I talk to regularly. You know, I actually - a few years - a few weeks ago -- excuse me -- I had somebody put together the whole list of everybody who had been a regular who was still alive as a character. You know, which excludes a few. And looked through it and, you know, we will sit down at the end of May and actually start trying to figure out some stories that might be interesting for some of the characters that tie into our existing characters. You know, we don’t want to just do kind of a - something where people are sort of dropping in like - you know, like parachuting into the show just for promotional purposes. We want to make sure they’d be real - there would be real stories to do. And I was kind of amazed at some of the people I’d kind of forgotten who were around on the show at the beginning - not forgotten exactly, but I did major guest stars and things who have gone on to other things -- Kirsten Dunst and Maria Bello. And, you know, there were a lot of people who have gone on to do, you know, other things that are pretty extraordinary.

Interviewer:        Yeah. Well it’s an extraordinary show. And it must be a very daunting challenge to think of a way to bring the thing to a close. That’s always…

John Wells:         I tell you, you know -- and this is just me because I come out of the theater -- the thing I am most frightened of is my office is right beside the stage where we’ve shot all these years. And I know that, you know, in a year from now there’ll be a moment which I walk onto the completely empty stage and see somebody putting up a pilot for something else. That’ll be a difficult and emotional moment for me, I think.

Interviewer:        Maura, how many episodes are you on next season? And will fans of Luka and Abby need to pull out their tissues or will we be a little happy at the resolution of that relationship?

Maura Tierney:    Fans of Luka and Abby always should have their tissues close by. And I’m not exactly sure how many episodes I’m going to be doing next season because it’s - in terms of scheduling and just - I don’t know. They - it has not been worked out yet.

John Wells:         And it’s a little complicated just so that you know that we’re not trying to be coy about it. With the writers strike ending, you know, there were - we were unable to produce as many shows as we were supposed to this year. So part of it is trying to kind of figure out all right, you know, what are we still obligated for everybody and what does NBC want us to do. And everybody in all these shows are trying to figure that out. It’s kind of a mess really.

Maura Tierney:    Yeah, it’s like - and everyone is working triple time to sort of compensate for the time we lost. So it’s a little confusing. So I’m not sure. I - you know what? Go ahead, John, sorry.

John Wells:         It’ll be at the beginning of the season at some point, you know. In the first episodes, whether that’s one - you know, Episode 4 or Episode 3, we’re not, you know, quite sure - or Episode 5. We’re trying to kind of figure it out.

Interviewer:        All right. You mean when the relationship is resolved and when the characters leave? Is that what you…

John Wells:         Yes.

Interviewer:        Okay. And - well I better not cry too hard, Maura. I’ll be very upset.

Maura Tierney:    We are going to make you cry so hard.

John Wells:         Come on, admit it. You’d be a little disappointed if you weren’t crying at all.

Maura Tierney:    And they might be tears of joy. That’s good. Whatever it is. I mean, that’s what’s great about having the ability to work with another actor for so many years, because it’s such a great relationship that we have as humans and the characters have. So there’s a lot for the writers to work with. So I don’t even know exactly what it’s going to be, but I’m excited.

Interviewer:        Well that means that Goran will be back for at least several episodes next season, right?

John Wells:         Can’t tell you.

Interviewer:        It does sound like he’ll be back, clearly, because you didn’t - because of the strike, he has to come back to resolve. John, there’s been some rumors about a spin-off of ER. Is there anything - are you thinking in those terms at all?

John Wells:         No. You know, I get these rumors too and if, during the course of next season, we thought that was a good idea, that we all got excited about and there were actors who wanted to do it, we might consider it. You know, again, I - we - Michael Crichton and I have never really wanted to dilute the series itself. And there’s always been a lot of pressure to spin-off something from ER, and we’ve always resisted it. And it’s just sort of a personal choice. You know, I believe that spinning - and of course, you know, it doesn’t apply now that we’re in - heading into Season 15. But I’ve always felt spinning things off somehow diminished the - sort of the original show.

Interviewer:        So the John Stamos rumor was not true, that he turned down a spin-off?

John Wells:         It may have been a spin-off from Full House, but, you know, it wasn’t from ER.

Interviewer:        It wasn’t from ER. And you mentioned the healthcare situation. Do you have any other ideas yet for next - for the series ending arcs next year besides healthcare?

John Wells:         No. You know, we’re really not - I’m not trying to be coy about it. It’s just that we weren’t able to work during the strike. We came back. We had about four weeks to get shows back on the air, which is very tight, and try and get six of them done through - to get us on through May sweeps. So honestly, we’ve just been running and gunning like crazy to try and get back on like everybody else in town. And we just haven’t been able to kind of do what we normally do which is put a little more time and thought into that. So, you know, we will be getting to it and by summertime we’ll be able to answer a lot of those questions. But right now, we’re just trying to survive.

Interviewer:        I know you’re introducing, of course, a hot new doctor in the ER. Will - is that a character that will go on to next season or will you actually be introducing new characters even though it’s the last year?

John Wells:         It is a character that will go into next season. We’re not quite sure how many episodes David will be in next year. We like him very much. David Lyons is his name and he’s a young Australian actor that we’re all excited about - very talented. And as always, you know, in the - at the end of the season, the beginning of the fall, the new interns and medical students come into the ER, which has again been one of the ways that the series has been able to, I think, stay strong is that the -- excuse me -- the natural storytelling for the show allows us to constantly be introducing new characters. So yeah, we’ll absolutely be introducing new characters in the fall.

Interviewer:        John, have you given any thought at all yet to how you want to end the series, even in terms of a feel or…

John Wells:         Yeah. You know, I - the reason - when Noah was saying he was done or getting ready to go, he and I sat down and I told him then what I had kind of hoped for the end of the series which is an idea that I started to kick around when Anthony Edwards was leaving. I had that feeling in Year 8 that George having been gone, Julianna having been gone, Eriq leaving earlier that year, Sherry already gone and now Anthony leaving - that we would be - you know, we’d kind of quickly wind down. And so I talked to Noah at that time sort of roughly about an idea I had for the end of the series. And then when he was choosing to leave, when obviously we had such a wonderful new infusion of talent with Maura and Goran and others who had joined us at that point, the - that same idea is one that he and I have continued to talk about and so that’s why he committed to coming back and doing four episodes at whatever point the series ended. So yeah, the final episode and the final images I kind of have in my head. But what will lead us up to that is anybody’s guess.

Interviewer:        And do you plan to like, you know, sort of go big for one of the - you know, sort of a signature ER moment over the course of next year?

John Wells:         I’m sure we will just because they’re fun to do and the audience likes them. But also the cast and the shooting company likes them because it’s a challenge to figure out how we’re going to actually do something. We’re doing something very big at the end of this season. And we’re hoping to be able, in the next few days, to announce some guest casting that we’re excited about that’s involved in that. So yeah, I’m sure we’ll do it next year. We just haven’t quite figured out what. But I don’t think there’ll be an earthquake or anything that happens at the hospital in Chicago…at the end of the season.

Interviewer:        I am just so happy you guys are finally back. Of course, that means my anxiety attacks will be back again, too. That’s a testament...

Maura Tierney:    Same thing for me.

Interviewer:        Yeah. That’s a good testament to how good the writing is. So many dramatic scenes. It’s just wonderful. Maura, I’m kind of - I’m wondering, though - you know, you said you wanted to be sent off as a whole in the - I’m getting a little concerned now about crying so much with the Luka and Abby story. Is - I know you said the family will be helping. Is Sally Field going to be in that capacity at all, trying to help with your support?

Maura Tierney:    I don’t know. You know what? I don’t know. I talked a little bit about that with David Zabel, who’s right now running the writers room. And I don’t really know what - I honestly don’t, what the writers - I mean, the vague terms I know, but I don’t know exactly story wise what they’re planning. Do you, John?

John Wells:         I do know what we’re planning. But, you know, Sally is a regular on…

Interviewer:        Brothers & Sisters.

John Wells:         …another network show now. Which makes things, you know, infinitely more difficult because there are contractual obligations that she has. So unless we come up with a story that would give her a lot to do, that would make it worthwhile for both Sally and I to beg Steve McPherson to allow her to do it…

Interviewer:        Oh, call Steve.

John Wells:         No - I don’t know that that’ll be happening. I love Sally and she’s just a wonderful person, wonderful actress. We were delighted to have her on the series. But I think she’s pretty well otherwise engaged at this point.

Interviewer:        What has made careers working in this industry rewarding for you both, would you say?

Maura Tierney:    John?

John Wells:         You know, I grew up in Arapahoe County, Colorado and I was just so happy not to be roofing houses anymore. And that’s absolutely the truth. I never thought - I mean, in my deepest, darkest hopes, I hoped that I would be able to make a living somewhere in dinner theater or regional theater, doing something where I just got to be around the actors and the designers, and writers and directors and people that I so admired and loved. So honestly, what’s been rewarding about it is, you know, that extraordinary chance that some of us get to actually do what we love and to make a living at it when you come from someplace where it seems like an impossible dream to be able to do that. I know that sounds a little hokey and Pollyanna-ish, but that’s the absolute truth for me.

Maura Tierney:    I don’t think it sounds hokey at all. I agree 100%. I think the same thing. It’s sort of like that it’s the feeling of being able to do what you love and also on something that is an extremely, you know, the quality of the work, I think, is very high. And so it’s like to be able to have such a great time all day and be challenged, and put out I think a really good show is like beyond sort of all the expectations I had.

Interviewer:        Going back to David Lyons, what - who is going to be his biggest adversary on the show? Who will he begin having scenes with?

John Wells:         You know, it’s - we’ve just started, but everybody. He’s going to - the character is meant to be a conflict character who is, you know, sort of banging heads with everybody that he runs into. Then…

Interviewer:        I hear the ladies already love him.

John Wells:         You know, he - I used to work with a casting director who said God doesn’t give with both hands, but I think in this case he does. He’s a very attractive, handsome, appealing guy and also a really talented actor. So we were - we’re lucky to have him.

Interviewer:        And how many episodes do you have left for this season - to finish out 14?

John Wells:         Well we’ll do six - we were able to do six of the episodes. We had done 13 of them, so we’ll do 19 rather than the 23 that we were planning to do. We just - you know, that’s - the impact of the strike meant that there are four of them that there’s no way we can get in.

Interviewer:        During this period, you know, where you guys are sort of reflecting and looking back, are there any specific episodes or scenes that you would say were your favorite to work on and to act in?

Maura Tierney:    John? <