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How Dr. Devi Will Change Transplant — and Why She'll Clash with Bash
Following Bishop's (John Hannah) resignation, there's a new chief in town who is ready to switch things up at York Memorial.
Transplant Season 3 is here, and there's a new chief in town!
With Bishop (John Hannah) shocking York Memorial Hospital and resigning in the second season finale, his replacement Dr. Neeta Devi (Rekha Sharma) has arrived. It soon becomes clear that she has a different leadership style than her predecessor, sometimes to the frustration of her doctors — specifically Bash.
"She's the kind of character that we root for and that we like, but also brings change that affects everybody on our show," showrunner Joseph Kay explains to NBC Insider. "And so she's an interesting and antagonist in that way."
Read on to find out everything you need to know about her and the tension between her and Bash.
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Who is Dr. Devi on Transplant?
Devi is the hospital's new chief of emergency medicine who has moved to Toronto from the U.S. with her wife and child. This position marks her first time running an emergency department. As the season goes on, fans will see that she prioritizes a patient first approach when practicing medicine.
"Dr. Bishop had been here at York Memorial doing this job for 30 years, and Dr. Devi is an American, so she's an immigrant like Bash," Kay explains to us. "She comes from a background more in public policy... She's a deeply human person, and she cares a lot about, maybe in a way more, about how people feel than about the ins and outs [of York]."
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Kay continues, "She comes with an agenda, you know, a patient-focused agenda that she wants to bring. But when it comes to putting it on its feet, it's challenging for her. Hospitals, big Level 1 Center trauma hospitals in big cities like Toronto, are huge institutions and they're very, very hard to move. And she's about to find that out; that change is hard and possible."
Do Bash and Dr. Devi like each other?
Despite his gruff communication style, Bash was close with Bishop, respected his style of practicing medicine, and looked at him as an ally and a mentor at York. But with Devi, it's not as easy to find common ground.
"She just doesn't have the same karmic connection with Bash that Dr. Bishop did," Kays says. "She likes him, but she also sees that he's somewhat of a rule breaker, and he thinks purely instinctively and doesn't really think a few steps ahead, you know, like she probably would. And so there's just an inherent conflict there."
However, Kay reassures us that throughout the season Bash and Devi's relationship evolves for the better, as the new chief also develops her own unique dynamics with the rest of the doctors.
"We invested in her relationship with Mags' character, and a sort of adversarial relationship between her and Theo's character," he says. "We just let it become a different thing, and I will say though that over the course of the third season, although Bash and Debbie start in different places, they find it a way back to each other."
Who is the actress that plays Dr. Devi on Transplant?
Dr. Neeta Devi is played by Canadian actress Rekha Sharma. You may recognize her from other TV shows like Battlestar Galactica, Yellowjackets, Roswell, New Mexico, Star Trek: Discovery, and The 100.
In November 2022 — 8 months before the current SAG strike — Sharma opened up to CTV about what it was like to replace Hannah two seasons into Transplant.
"What an incredible actor he is, and an absolutely beloved human being on the set," she said. "So yeah, it was nerve-racking. But the producers were on my side. The writing was on my side. And as it turns out, so were the other actors. I felt very supported by both the story and this incredible group of people that I get to work with every day.”
If you take a look at the star's Instagram, she enjoys taking her followers behind-the-scenes of the medical drama. In February 2023, she shared a series of fun selfies featuring the cast (including Laurence Leboeuf, Ayisha Issa, and Gord Rand) as they filmed Season 3.
"Love these people, love my job," she wrote in a caption. "Had an absolute blast shooting this season with my second fam. Much love and congrats to the cast and crew!!!"
