ER season 9

The ninth season of the American fictional drama television series ER first aired on September 26, 2002, and concluded on May 15, 2003. The ninth season consists of 22 episodes.

Plot
For the first time John Carter becomes the central character and Noah Wyle receives star billing. The death of Mark Greene continues to affect his colleagues while a grieving Corday has left Chicago for England. She returns and a medical student raises eyebrows. The ER is still plagued by the smallpox disease at the beginning. Elsewhere Romano suffers a horrific injury which has consequences throughout the season, Weaver finds herself promoted, Abby's family troubles resurface, Pratt continues to get on the wrong side of his colleagues, and Kovač and Carter join a relief mission in Africa, setting up a continuing story thread for following seasons. Carter deals with professional and family issues while other staff members have their own problems. Over the course of this season, Romano suffers setbacks after losing his arm, Abby and Carter lean towards a relationship, Pratt has troubles in both his personal and professional life.

Main cast

 * Noah Wyle as Dr. John Carter – Chief Resident, later Attending Physician
 * Laura Innes as Dr. Kerry Weaver – Chief of Emergency Medicine, later Chief of Staff
 * Mekhi Phifer as Dr. Greg Pratt – PGY-1 ER Intern
 * Alex Kingston as Dr. Elizabeth Corday – Associate Chief of Surgery
 * Goran Visnjic as Dr. Luka Kovač – Attending Emergency Physician
 * Maura Tierney as Nurse Manager Abby Lockhart - RN and Charge Nurse
 * Sherry Stringfield as Dr. Susan Lewis – Attending Emergency Physician
 * Ming-Na as Dr. Jing-Mei Chen – Attending Emergency Physician
 * Sharif Atkins as Michael Gallant – Fourth-year Rotating Medical Student
 * Paul McCrane as Dr. Robert Romano – Chief of Staff and Surgery, later Chief of ER

Supporting cast

 * Doctors and Medical students
 * Sam Anderson as Dr. Jack Kayson – Chief of Cardiology
 * John Aylward as Dr. Donald Anspaugh – Surgical Attending Physician and Hospital Board Member
 * Don Cheadle as Paul Nathan – Medical Student
 * Leslie Bibb as Erin Harkins – Medical Student
 * John Doman as Dr. Carl DeRaad – Chief of Psychiatry
 * Michael Buchman Silver as Dr. Paul Meyers – Psychiatrist
 * Scott Jaeck as Dr. Steven Flint – Chief of Radiology
 * Bruno Campos as Dr. Eddie Dorset – Vascular Surgeon
 * Matthew Glave as Dr. Dale Edson
 * Perry Anzilotti as Dr. Ed – Anesthesiologist
 * Megan Cole as Dr. Alice Upton – Pathologist
 * David Allen Brooks as Dr. Gunn
 * Andy Umberger as Dr. David Harvey
 * Dee Freeman as Dr. Lutz
 * Randy Lowell as Dr. Dan Shine
 * Christopher Grove as Dr. Marty Kline


 * Nurses
 * Ellen Crawford as Nurse Lydia Wright
 * Conni Marie Brazelton as Nurse Conni Oligario
 * Deezer D as Nurse Malik McGrath
 * Laura Cerón as Nurse Chuny Marquez
 * Yvette Freeman as Nurse Haleh Adams
 * Lily Mariye as Nurse Lily Jarvik
 * Gedde Watanabe as Nurse Yosh Takata
 * Donal Logue as Flight Nurse Chuck Martin
 * Dinah Lenney as Nurse Shirley
 * Kyle Richards as Nurse Dori Kerns
 * Nadia Shazana as Nurse Jacy
 * Bellina Logan as Nurse Kit
 * Lucy Rodriguez as Nurse Bjerke
 * Sumalee Montano as Nurse Duvata Mahal
 * Gina Philips as Nurse Kathy
 * Linda Shing as ICU Nurse Corazon


 * Staff, Paramedics and Officers
 * Abraham Benrubi as Desk Clerk Jerry Markovic
 * Troy Evans as Desk Clerk Frank Martin
 * Kristin Minter as Desk Clerk Miranda "Randi" Fronczak
 * Deborah May as Director of Nursing Mary Cain
 * Erica Gimpel as Social Worker Adele Newman
 * Pamela Sinha as Desk Clerk Amira
 * Emily Wagner as Paramedic Doris Pickman
 * Montae Russell as Paramedic Dwight Zadro
 * Lynn A. Henderson as Paramedic Pamela Olbes
 * Demetrius Navarro as Paramedic Morales
 * Brian Lester as Paramedic Brian Dumar
 * Michelle C. Bonilla as Paramedic Christine Harms
 * Julie Ann Emery as Paramedic Niki Lumley
 * Chad McKnight as Officer Wilson


 * Family
 * Sally Field as Maggie Wyczenski
 * Tom Everett Scott as Eric Wyczenski
 * Paul Freeman as Dr. Charles Corday
 * Judy Parfitt as Isabelle Corday
 * Frances Sternhagen as Millicent Carter
 * Michael Gross as Mr. John "Jack" Carter
 * Lisa Vidal as Sandy Lopez
 * Marcello Thedford as Leon Pratt

Notable guest stars

 * Chris Pine as Levine
 * Paul Hipp as Craig Turner
 * Josh Radnor as Keith
 * Crispin Bonham Carter as Passenger
 * Bruce Weitz as John Bright
 * Edward Asner and Liz Torres as patients
 * Patrick Fugit as Sean Simmons
 * Katee Sackhoff as Jason's girlfriend
 * Josh Hutcherson as Matt
 * Aaron Paul as Doug
 * Amaury Nolasco as Ricky
 * Jerry Trainor as Darius
 * Michael Peña as Police Officer
 * Lake Bell as Jody Holmes
 * Eli Wallach as Mr. Langston

Production
Original executive producers John Wells and Michael Crichton reprised their roles. Long-time crew member Jack Orman returned as executive producer and show runner. Previous executive producer Christopher Chulack remained a consulting producer while working on Wells' Third Watch. R. Scott Gemmill and Dee Johnson continued to act as co-executive producers. Medical expert Joe Sachs remained a supervising producer. Richard Thorpe, Joe Sachs, and Wendy Spence Rosato returned as producers. They were joined by new producer Bruce Miller. Eighth season executive story editor David Zabel and unit production manager Tommy Burns joined the production team as co-producers for the ninth season. New crew member Julie Hébert began the season as a co-producer. Zabel and Hebert were promoted to producers mid-season. Hebert left the crew with the close of the season. Teresa Salamunovich returned to the crew as an associate producer for the ninth season. She was joined by new associate producers Erin Mitchell (for the entire season) and Shelagh O'Brien (after the mid-season break).

Wells wrote a further episode for the season. Gemmill was the season's most prolific writer with five episodes. Johnson and Orman each wrote four episodes. Zabel and Hebert each wrote three episodes. Sachs and Miller each wrote two episodes. Yahlin Chang joined the writing staff as a story editor in 2002 and contributed to four episodes as a writer and twelve episodes as an executive story editor and one episode as a co-producer between 2002 and 2005. Wells was promoted to executive story editor mid-season but left the staff with the close of the season. New writer Arthur Albert wrote a single episode.

Producers Kaplan and Thorpe served as the season's regular directors. Kaplan helmed five episodes while Thorpe directed four. Chulack directed a further episode. Show runner Orman helmed a further two episodes. New producer Hebert directed a single episode. Returning director Charles Haid directed two episodes. Cast members Laura Innes and Paul McCrane each directed an episode, McCrane making his series debut. Returning directors were Félix Enríquez Alcalá, David Nutter, Nelson McCormick, TR Babu Subramaniam, and Alan J. Levi. Peggy Rajski was the season's only new director.