ER: Welcome Back, Jeanie Boulet!
Gloria Reuben Returns for Guest Stint
It’s hard to believe that it’s been over eight whole years since Gloria Reuben brought HIV-infected physician’s assistant Jeanie Boulet to heartwrenching life on NBC’s long-running medical drama ER. That’s exactly how much time has passed since her last appearance on the series, though, a fact that will probably seem weirder still to fans when the Canadian actress returns on tonight’s episode “Status Quo” for a one-shot engagement and everything falls magically back into place, as if she’d never left.
According to several interviews that have surfaced just in time for her brief visit, the emotional involvement required to play such a tragic yet courageous character was a main reason that Reuben left the show near the beginning of the sixth season, on the 1999 episode “The Peace of Wild Things.”
Her return will deliver more intensity, however, as Boulet, now a divorcée and adoptive mother who manages two Chicago HIV/AIDS clinics, comes into conflict with Pratt (Mekhi Phifer) over her HIV-positive adopted son’s condition. Sounds like a classic Reuben/Boulet storyline that will leave fans yearning for another guest-star turn by the actress.
Read more about this television event at the Los Angeles Times and TV Guide.
Related News: ‘ER’ Closes 2007 with Its 300th Episode
ER currently airs Thursdays on NBC at 10:01pm EST
Gloria Reuben/ER photo courtesy of NBC
