'ER' to court former stars for final season
Mar 12, 2008, 06:29 AM | by Lynette Rice
http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2008/03/will-clooney-an.html
We might just have the writers' strike to thank for bringing George
Clooney
back to the ER! Yep, you read that right; NBC, facing a shortened
development season brought on by the 100-day labor dispute, is in the
final
stages of renewing ER for a 15th season next fall. The reprieve has
prompted
executive producers John Wells and David Zabel to make ambitious plans for
what (finally) appears to be the drama's last season. "We want to revisit
characters that have existed on the show over the years and say where they
are now," says Zabel of stars like Clooney (Doug) and Julianna Margulies
(Carol). "We'd love to get them all back in some way, but that doesn't
mean
we're going to. But we're gonna try."
He's already guaranteed a visit by at least one alumnus: Noah Wyle will
reprise his role as Dr. Carter for four episodes next season. Goran
Visnjic
(Kovac) is also expected to make a return engagement. "The toughest will
be
getting Tony Edwards because his character is dead," says Zabel, laughing.
That's a little tricky, but there are ways to do it that we've thought
about. Even if it were like a lost episode from 1996 featuring him and
Wyle."
In the meantime, Zabel will keep the ER buzzing for the remaining six
outings this season by bringing on Aida Turturro (The Sopranos) for a
three-week stint as a patient and adding a hot new doc (possibly an
unknown
actor from Australia) who's supposed to make Dr. Gates (John Stamos) look
like a plain white-coat. "He'll be a sexy rake, a devil you can't resist,"
explains Zabel, adding, "A dynamic new character has the ability to
motivate
everybody, though it's easy to get excited about next season considering
it
will be the last."
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