Why The Resident Is Missing Another Week On Fox, And When Season 5 Will Be Back

The Resident spent the first five episodes of Season 5 throwing curveball after curveball at viewers, to the point that the most recent episode ended on a big time jump for Conrad and the rest of the characters. Unfortunately for fans, they haven’t gotten a good look at the post-time jump lives of the characters other than the promo footage, because The Resident skipped one week and was supposed to return on November 2. Now, fans will be waiting yet again, but there’s a good reason why.

The original, best-case scenario for The Resident to return after the time jump was on Tuesday, November 2 in its usual 8 p.m. ET time slot on Fox, but that best-case scenario hasn’t played out. After a new episode was preempted the previous week for Game 1 of the 2021 MLB World Series between the Atlanta Braves and the Houston Astros, The Resident would return on November 2 only if the World Series was wrapped in five games or fewer, and that wasn’t the case this year. So, instead of a new episode of The Resident, Fox viewers are getting Game 6.

And the wait won’t be too painfully long for The Resident to return, all things considered. The next episode, called “Ask Your Doctor,” will air on Tuesday, November 9 at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. While that’s still a week later than if the World Series had ended in fewer than six games, at least fans can be confident that the World Series definitely won’t be going to Game 11 to knock The Resident back another week! 

For better or worse, the MLB series will be over by end of day on Wednesday, November 3, although there will be more preemptions for Fox if the Astros vs. Braves goes to Game 7. That would certainly be bad news for fans of The Masked Singer! But what’s up next for The Resident when it returns on November 9? 

Well, “Ask Your Doctor” will jump ahead in time by four years, when little Gigi is old enough to start asking her dad the hard questions. For his part, Conrad has left his work at Chastain at some point following Nic’s death, and that won’t be the only change. The episode description courtesy of Fox gives a window into what to expect: 

Conrad brings a patient into the hospital who causes a high security crisis. An MMA brawl sends a well-known fighter to Chastain and all hands are on deck. Meanwhile, Bell and Raptor vie for the same position at the hospital, and Leela gets a visit from her sister.

Even though Conrad has left Chastain as a doctor, The Resident fans don’t have to worry that Season 5 will pick up with him nowhere to be seen, and it’s clear that there are still wild cases coming to the hospital after four years. Leela getting a visit from her sister should be interesting, as The Resident cast series regular Anuja Joshi’s real-life twin sister Aneesha Joshi for the role, which could explain a particularly shocking scene with AJ from the promo for “Ask Your Doctor.” Take a look:

It seems like just a matter of time before Conrad returns to Chastain to stay, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be back in scrubs by the first commercial break. Find out if and when he decides to come back to his old stomping grounds when the show returns from the baseball break. The years of the time jump will serve to move past a lot of his grief for Nic after the initial arc of Season 5, and he even has a new love interest on the way (who may or may not be an intriguing new character played by a Gotham veteran). 

Be sure to tune in to Fox on November 9 at 8 p.m. ET for what’s next on The Resident, and swing by our 2021 fall TV premiere schedule for more of what to watch and when to watch it.

Laura Hurley
Senior Content Producer

Laura turned a lifelong love of television into a valid reason to write and think about TV on a daily basis. She's not a doctor, lawyer, or detective, but watches a lot of them in primetime. CinemaBlend's resident expert and interviewer for One Chicago, the galaxy far, far away, and a variety of other primetime television. Will not time travel and can cite multiple TV shows to explain why. She does, however, want to believe that she can sneak references to The X-Files into daily conversation (and author bios).

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