Noah Wyle’s kind and endearing John Carter was one of the biggest fan-favorite characters on NBC’s “ER.” Tens of millions of viewers watched him grow from a neophyte medical student to a respected doctor before Wyle left the show. There are plenty of interviews where he looks back on what a spectacular achievement “ER” was, but in a Hollywood Reporter piece from 2019, he recalled his favorite love interest of Carter’s.
“There was something so incredibly special about the relationship that John Carter had with Makemba,” he told THR. “She really brought out a side of that character that was the truest. That’s the best relationship for him, for the character. And I loved working with Thandie [Thandiwe Newton].”
For long-time fans and those who binged “ER” in the wake of “The Pitt” blowing up on HBO, it hardly comes as a surprise that he named Newton’s Makemba “Kem” Likasu from Seasons 10 and 11. Carter meets Kem when he follows in the footsteps of Dr. Luka Kovac (Goran Visnjic) and heads to the Congo on a relief mission to work at a local clinic in the war-torn province of Kisangani. The two quickly fall in love, and after we learn that Kem is pregnant with Carter’s child, he convinces her to join him on his return to Chicago.
Carter and Makemba’s relationship might’ve been the most tragic one of all for the character
The romance between John Carter and Makemba Likasu begins with their shared desire to practice medicine and treat patients who face brutal and unspeakable atrocities in Africa, a noble and inspiring start to their relationship. But “ER” being “ER,” their romance gradually turns into a somber, sometimes depressing personal drama once they return to the U.S. A few weeks after arriving in Chicago, the two receive the devastating news that their baby will be stillborn. Unprepared for that kind of tragedy, neither of them knows how to process their shared loss. That causes them to retreat emotionally from one another, a move that eats at their relationship.
The African storylines and the characters they focus on certainly stand out over those two seasons. As Noah Wyle told THR, “You know [Carter’s] going to be king one day, but before he takes the crown, he’s got to prove himself among that [sic] vagabonds, and the thieves, and prostitutes, and the drunkards, because they’re the real people. And then he goes to Africa, his biggest challenge of all, and that’s where he falls in love. So that’s the best relationship for him, for the character.”