New Amsterdam has landed on Netflix, with maverick Dr Max Goodwin setting hearts aflutter all over again. Though the medical drama ended last year, new fans of the show have plenty of questions about the pair of doctors and their love story after starting the show from series 1.
New Amsterdam centres around unorthodox Dr Max Goodwin (Ryan Eggold) who hopes to bring new life to one of America’s oldest hospitals: New Amsterdam.
As he battles scepticism from staff and patients, the medic also has to navigate his increasingly complex relationship with oncologist Dr Helen Sharpe (Freema Agyeman). After seeing their romance begin to blossom, viewers are desperate to know if their relationship works out.
Do Max and Helen get together in New Amsterdam?
For those that haven’t binge-watched the Netflix series, expect spoilers in this New Amsterdam deep dive.
Throughout the first few seasons of New Amsterdam, fans were kept guessing with increasing tension between Max and Helen. Their taut will-they-won’t-they relationship comes to ahead at the end of the third season, after they share a passionate kiss.
The talented oncologist even calls time on her relationship with Dr. Akash Panthaki, with Max inadvertently causing the break up. Despite fans desperately wanting them to end up together, the romance doesn’t survive the season four.
As the pair are set to tie the knot, Helen begins to question their compatibility and eventually leaves Max at the altar. If viewers weren’t devastated enough, the former fianceé shares her heart-breaking reasons in a handwritten letter.
Though she did make a brief appearance in season five, the pair never rekindle their romance - with Max ultimately choosing Dr Elizabeth Wilder (Sandra Mae Frank).
Why did Freema Agyeman leave New Amsterdam after season 4?
Freema's character had been a fan favourite throughout the fourth season of New Amsterdam, so lots of fans questioned why she didn’t return for the final season.
With viewers desperate for Helen to return to screens, showrunner David Schulner revealed that it was scheduling conflicts that kept Freema away.
He later told TVLine, "[Freema] was totally up for returning for the season finale,” he said. “It’s our one regret that her and Anupam Kher [Dr. Kapoor]—his character died, obviously, on the show—but we would have loved to honor those characters and actors as well in the finale, but we just couldn’t make it work.
“We really did try with Freema, too, just to see if we could get her, and it just didn’t time out right."
As the series ends with Max leaving for Geneva, Schulner claims it wouldn’t have been as satisfying they’d tried to rekindle their romance in the final episode.
He explained, "It all worked out the way it was supposed to work out, because the story we had for Freema in the finale wasn’t as good as what we ended up with.
"So, on the plus side, we would’ve had Freema in the finale, but the downside is it wasn’t as satisfying."
