As Mercy is my new favorite drama on NBC, I was thrilled to be invited to attend a set visit which took place on Wednesday, January 13, 2010…you may recall that night’s episode of Mercy having a special guest star, Michael Imperioli. Well, those on set were thrilled to meet the new star on board who has not a guest role but a recurring role! As it was announced earlier this year, James Van Der Beek (Dawson’s Creek) has gained a recurring role on the show and luckily he started filming with the show when the press stopped by!

Interestingly enough, Beek’s character is described as “the hospital’s new womanizing ICU chief who harbors a dark secret” and last month during my “Mercy Week” feature on Hollywood the Write Way, I wrote, “As Veronica is now cordial with Dr. Harris, there doesn’t seem to be a character that is not all that well liked. Let’s get some new blood in the hospital, be it a new nurse or a nurse who has been around for ages and is just transferring here but he or she brings nothing but chaos to work, first indirectly and then directly towards the nurses and the rest of the staff. Let’s stir up some major trouble in Mercy Hospital (like Georgina trouble times five.) This could be a multi episode storyline or a storyline that goes on for one or two seasons. It really depends on who could be cast for this troublemaker and where the writers would take this.”

Needless to say, I am thrilled with this new character coming into Mercy Hospital! I even snagged a photo with the troublemaker!

But wait! There’s more! The one and only James Tupper gave the press the set tour! We visited Mercy Hospital and the courtyard, the living room and kitchen of Veronica’s parents’ house, the half built home of Veronica and Mike, and the pub!

The press sat down with the cast for a Q&A in the pub which was quite cool… Check out the Q&A videos below! (As a huge Rent fan, I made sure to ask Jaime if she was open to singing on the show in the first video).

Cast members in attendance for Q&A:
Jaime Lee Kirchner (Sonia), Michelle Trachtenberg (Chloe), Taylor Schilling (Veronica), James Tupper (Dr. Chris Sands), Diego Klattenhoff (Mike), James Van Der Beek (Dr. Liam West), James Legros (Dr. Dan Harris), and Guillermo Diaz (Nurse Angel Lopez)

Mercy airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on NBC.