Chicago Med hasn't let the complications of production on Season 6 slow down the delivery of dramatic twists, and the arrival of a new med student could add a complex new chapter to one character's arc. A new medical student is on the way played by Asjha Cooper of All American and Snowfall fame, and she could have a connection to none other than Maggie that could change the charge nurse forever.
Asjha Cooper will join Chicago Med starting with the April 28 episode of the NBC medical drama, with TVLine reporting that she'll recur throughout the rest of Season 6. Cooper will play accelerated med student Vanessa Taylor, who is the passionate and driven youngest person in her class. Vanessa has had to work hard to get where she is. Perhaps most importantly, she'll have a surprise connection of some sort to one of the nurses.
And the odds seem pretty good that the nurse in question is Maggie! In the most recent episode, following April crossing a line when she did something as a nurse that only doctors are allowed to do, Maggie suggested that the ED expand its training program in light of the flood of new enrollments in medical and nursing schools. Vanessa appearing on Chicago Med in the second half of Season 6 rather than at the beginning suggests that Maggie's new initiative could be the reason for it.
But Maggie's initiative isn't why I think that Asjha Cooper's Vanessa could have a surprise connection to her. Ever since Maggie said goodbye to Auggie, she has had her mind on the daughter she had back when she was in high school and then gave up for adoption. Although Maggie hasn't reached out to her daughter yet, the plot thread is very much dangling. Wouldn't it make sense for Vanessa to be Maggie's daughter that she gave up for adoption all those years ago?
Vanessa as the youngest person in her class could mean that she's in her early 20s, which in turn could mean that her age would fit with the daughter that Maggie gave up 20 or so years ago when she was a teenager. Vanessa would definitely be on the young end if she's somehow both a medical student and Maggie's long-lost daughter, but a medical student with a connection to a nurse in the same season that Maggie is interested in reuniting with the daughter of around the same age seems like it can't be a coincidence. This is a scripted TV show, after all!
I originally thought that this program would be Chicago Med's way of having April consider medical school while maintaining her place as a major Med character rather than pulling a Foster from Chicago Fire and leaving the series to pursue medical school. Now, if the introduction of Asjha Cooper as Vanessa Taylor does indeed mean that Maggie will be sharing the ED with her biological daughter, viewers could be in for a complicated new status quo for Maggie.
Find out when Asjha Cooper makes her Chicago Med debut on Wednesday, April 28 on NBC at 8 p.m. ET, ahead of new episodes of Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D.
