To audiences, Dr. Will Halstead is the golden-hearted emergency doctor with unshakable loyalty. But what many fans don’t know is that the man behind the role, Nick Gehlfuss, poured real-life pain into his performance—and it started with a tragic loss no one saw coming.
Before he joined Chicago Med, Gehlfuss lost his younger cousin to a sudden medical crisis. “He was 19,” Nick once said in a rare, emotional interview. “One moment he was healthy, the next he was gone. It rocked our whole family.” The experience shaped how Nick approached playing a doctor. “I wasn’t just learning medical jargon,” he said. “I was honoring someone.”
Insiders on set say Nick often stayed behind after wrap to go over medical procedures with real consultants. “He took it seriously,” a former nurse advisor said. “Not because he was scared of messing up—but because it meant something more.”
The emotional weight of that loss spilled into key storylines—especially Will’s complicated relationship with Natalie and the death of patients. In one scene during Season 3, when Will loses a young patient after an allergic reaction, Nick reportedly broke down after the director called cut. “He just sat there in the hallway. Silent. Tears in his eyes,” said a crew member. “That wasn’t acting.”
Behind the scenes, Nick was also grappling with the breakdown of a longtime relationship. During Season 5, he quietly separated from his partner of several years. “He kept it private,” a friend close to the show revealed. “But it definitely affected him. The irony is that Will and Natalie were falling apart on screen, and so was Nick’s real relationship.”
During his final season, Nick reportedly requested that Will not be killed off, but be given a “bittersweet sendoff.” He wanted the chance for his character to find peace—even if he hadn’t yet.
In real life, Nick has taken time away from the spotlight since leaving Chicago Med, focusing on travel and rebuilding. He remains close to co-star Torrey DeVitto (Natalie), who was his confidante both on and off screen. While rumors swirled about a romance between the two, neither confirmed it—but fans noticed their affectionate social media posts long after the show ended.
Today, Nick Gehlfuss looks back on Chicago Med not just as a job, but as a journey through grief, growth, and healing. “Will Halstead helped me become someone stronger,” he said. “And in many ways, I’m still figuring out where the character ends and I begin.”
