Meet the newest member of the night shift at San Antonio Memorial, Gwen (Merle Dandridge). She’s the new paramedic in town who also happens to be Jordan’s (Jill Flint) longtime best friend. Gwen, Jordan and TC (Eoin Macken) went to college together and she's seen TC at his worst, so she isn’t too thrilled about the idea of them getting back together.

With The Night Shift due to return to NBC on Monday, February 23rd at 10pm, I got the opportunity to visit the Albuquerque, New Mexico set and sit down with Dandridge to talk about her experience joining the cast and what’s to come for her character. Check out what she told me about what she suspects went down back in the day between Gwen, TC and Jordan, how the writers incorporated her own personal strengths into the character, nailing the tricky medical jargon and loads more.

the-night-shift-season-2-jill-flint-eoin-macken-merle-dandridge

Merle Dandridge:

  • 00:00 - The basics on her character - Jordan’s best friend, Gwen.
  • 01:26 - Has she worked out all of the details of Gwen and Jordan’s past; where TC fits in.
  • 02:35 - What TC might have been like prior to going off to war.
  • 03:19 - What’s to come for Gwen in season 2 beyond her relationship with TC and Jordan.
  • 04:05 - On the writers incorporating her personal strengths into the character.
  • 04:55 - Nailing the medical jargon - or not.
  • 05:58 - Being the newcomer; getting a warm welcome from the cast.
  • 07:11 - Meet the other cast member, “Anna-Bell.”
  • 07:45 - Adapting to the workflow the cast already established during season 1.

the-night-shift-season-2-poster