{"id":7994497,"date":"2026-04-06T17:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T00:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/?p=7994497"},"modified":"2026-04-06T16:52:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T23:52:05","slug":"st-denis-medical-season-2-episode-18-showrunner-eric-ledgin-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/creative-content\/tv-shows\/st-denis-medical-season-2-episode-18-showrunner-eric-ledgin-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018St. Denis Medical\u2019 Boss Breaks Down Ron\u2019s Post-Op Confession and Taking Matt and Serena to the Next Level"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

Note: This story contains spoilers from \u201cSt. Denis Medical\u201d Season 2, Episode 18.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSt. Denis Medical\u201d<\/a> may have just kicked a new will-they, won\u2019t-they dynamic in the final seconds of the Season 2 finale, and not even the NBC comedy\u2019s showrunner knows where things go from here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Episode 18, titled \u201cWe Make Time,\u201d followed as the hospital staff braced for Dr. Ron (David Alan Grier) to undergo a serious heart bypass surgery. The installment followed as hospital executive director Joyce (Wendi McLendon-Covey) and the doctors and nurses came together to give their support before the procedure, while sharing their relief after he got through it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Things took a turn after the curmudgeonly doctor woke from his anesthesia-induced slumber in the episode\u2019s final moments, only to ask \u201cWhere\u2019s my Joyce\u201d before dozing off again \u2014 leaving Alex (Allison Tolman) and Bruce (Josh Lawson) in shock.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s always been a special relationship there. I don\u2019t think the show has really defined it,\u201d series co-creator Eric Ledgin told TheWrap. \u201cTheir relationship is a little messy. To me this both feels out of nowhere, but also fuels the messiness of their relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ron\u2019s confession could be the underlying admission of deeper feelings toward Joyce, as much as it could be a delirious painkiller-ridden Freudian slip. But viewers will have to wait until Season 3 to find out what comes next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Season 2 finale brought big feelings as the doctors faced the potential loss of their beloved colleague Ron, who enlisted Ariana Madix\u2019s Dr. Brooke Emerson to perform the surgery. Though initially clashing with her former date night buddy Bruce, the duo ended up potentially rekindling their own romantic flame by episode\u2019s end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But perhaps the biggest romantic headline came from Matt (Mekki Leeper) and Serena (Kahyun Kim) finally acting on their shared feelings with a kiss and agreeing to start seeing each other after two seasons of courtship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below, Ledgin speaks with TheWrap about plotting an emotional ending for Season 2 and his plans for the upcoming third season. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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David Alan Grier and Allison Tolman in “St. Denis Medical.” (Greg Gayne\/NBC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

TheWrap: It was great to see a more heartfelt side to the ensemble as they came together as Ron underwent bypass surgery. How did the idea come about for this emotional tone for the finale?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ledgin:<\/strong> We were headed in a totally different direction, to be honest with you \u2014 this is one of those pivot moments. Where we were heading felt good, but didn\u2019t feel quite special enough or something. \u201cWhat if this was all we get to do? What would I really feel bad about leaving on the table?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the very early conception of the idea, it just felt like any time in my life I\u2019ve seen or heard of doctors having to go under around the people they work with. It\u2019s such a loaded thing, and it\u2019s such a baked in premise of this show, the mix of business and personal. It just felt like, of course we have to do that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was so easy and fun to figure out what people’s reactions would be to Ron going through this. Once we knew what the storyline was going to be, it all felt like it flowed from the characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Serena and Matt kissed for the first time and ended the season with some more kissing and the beginning of an actual relationship. What made this the right time to pay off this slow burn?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of it is feeling it as you go. I didn\u2019t know if they were going to end up together in Season 1, and we decided to push things in Season 2 in the direction they were already sort of organically going, based on Mekki\u2019s and Kai\u2019s performances of the characters and to see if it felt right. And then at a certain point, we were like, \u201cThis does feel right, actually.\u201d I was very happy with the way things came together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I mean that from all sides. The directing of that second to last episode and that scene of them kissing, and just like the light was right, it all felt really good. And they played it so well. It felt like validation that this was the right idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ariana Madix, David Alan Grier and Josh Lawson in “St. Denis Medical.” (Greg Gayne\/NBC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ariana Madix made such a fun addition to the ensemble this season, and I\u2019ll admit I loved seeing Brooke and Bruce potentially rekindle their relationship. How much more Ariana would you want for Season 3?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It started as really just something to spark a journey for Bruce \u2014 seeing that this woman that was sort of his backup plan was falling through, and it could have really just ended there and that would have been fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But again, you wait until something sparks when you see it on camera. And she just had so much confidence that could easily match with Bruce\u2019s, but there was also a vulnerability there that felt a little bit similar to Bruce. They both have a certain something under the surface. It felt right to put them together in this situation and see what comes of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And you know, we have some ideas, and we\u2019ll see what happens in Season 3. Ariana has just been wonderful and a great addition to the cast. We just keep getting lucky just finding people that add a whole different dynamic to the show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were so many great jokes and gags in this season. Which one stands out as one you’re the most proud of for having successfully brought to life?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am a sucker for \u201cPerson falls and gets hurt,\u201d so I have to say Joyce falling off the stage. But the thing is that it wasn\u2019t just the falling off the stage \u2014 which does get me every time I watch it \u2014 but it was the way that Wendy played so confidently, needing to keep going afterwards, even with this absurd neck brace and how stiff she was, she just played it so funny for the whole rest of the episode. I was just like, \u201cWow, this is the gift that keeps on giving.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will also just say, because I just saw this, like, quote from this talking head went around a little bit of Matt saying that he’s going to be, he’s going to like, crack someone’s heart open, much like the little girl in the Grinch who cures the Who converts the Grinch to Judaism. I think it was Hunter Toro that wrote that and that just felt so true to me. I was like, \u201cOf course, the Grinch is a metaphor for a Jewish person.\u201d I say that as a Jewish person, but it just felt very real to me. I enjoyed that a lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"st-denis-medical-wendi-mclendon-covey-nbc\"
Wendi McLendon-Covey in “St. Denis Medical.” (Greg Gayne\/NBC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When we talked at the end of Season 1, you talked about expanding the story beyond the hospital walls and deepening the characters’ bond and comedic combinations. What’s the next frontier for you as you look to another season with these characters?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Season 2, I really did have these goals in mind of wanting to make the show funnier, and I wanted to get out of the hospital a little bit. And now, by the end of Season 2, I feel in the right gear. I want to ride this wave while deepening our look at the characters and their relationships, going even deeper on those relationships and following the threads that we’ve left. So nothing hugely earth shattering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Matt and Serena, looking at what happens with them, it\u2019ll be starkly different than watching two people who are kind of pining for each other. That\u2019s just a different relationship. What does it look like for someone like Ron? Who is all of a sudden humbled physically in front of all the people he works with and where he has this certain status. I\u2019m very interested to see the sort of human, messy unfolding of the consequences of all that happened at the end of Season 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSt. Denis Medical\u201d Seasons 1-2 are now streaming on Peacock. The show will return for Season 3 during the 2026-27 TV season.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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Co-creator Eric Ledgin tells TheWrap about packing more emotion into the Season 2 finale and hopes for more Ariana Madix in Season 3<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10142,"featured_media":7994489,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"byline":{"profiles":[{"type":"byline_id","atts":{"term_id":504728,"post_id":7303342}}]},"_links_to":"","_links_to_type":0,"nb_breaking_email_type":"a24483db-92c3-416f-bc61-da68f2e6a51c","nb_breaking_template":"single-story.html","nb_breaking_from_name":"TheWrap","nb_breaking_subject":"","nb_breaking_preview":"","nb_breaking_list":[],"nb_breaking_header_img":7555417,"nb_breaking_should_send":false,"nb_breaking_content":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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