With this being the final season of ER, the show naturally wants to bring back some of its old stars for cameos. George Clooney is the big fish to land, of course, and producers say they’ve got a juicy storyline to lure him in.

Showrunner David Zabel told TV Guide, “We have a really good story line for every [major] character from the past to show [the actors] what we want to do.”

Anthony Edwards is already on board to appear in flashbacks on the Nov. 13 episode (since his character, Dr. Greene, is dead), along with Paul McCrane (Dr. Romano) and Laura Innes (Dr. Weaver). Noah Wyle will guest star in four episodes, and Alex Kingston may show up as Dr. Corday.”It helps a lot that we’re doing a great episode with Anthony,” Zabel said of convincing holdouts Clooney, Julianna Margulies (Nurse Hathaway) and Eriq La Salle (Dr. Benton) to come back.

One thing Zabel says not to expect is a big finale wedding or gala with all the former ER staffers in attendance. “That might lend itself toward hokiness.”

Yeah, ’cause ER never gets hokey.

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“Life After Death” takes place after an event that has left several people injured in an ambulance explosion - in particular, Pratt. The timeline of this episode seems to cover at least several days.

Abby has hurt her hand, but she seems fine. She is treating Jasmine, a little girl who was in the back of a burning car. Jasmine is a precocious 8-year-old who suffers from asthma and is rather educated about her condition.

Jasmine seems stable at first, and Abby’s attention is split because she is worried about Pratt’s condition in the other room. Jasmine’s mother thinks the child is not acting right, and eventually Jasmine’s condition deteriorates. Abby suspects cyanide poisoning from the burning car interior and gives the antidote in time.

Another patient, Rose, had a 10 foot fall down an access well and was rescued by Norman who jumped the 10 feet, broke his leg, but brought Rose out. Norman is a real talker, telling his story to most everyone who will listen. He even gives Abby his mantra, “When you feel like hope is gone, look inside your and be strong, and you finally see the truth, that a hero lies in you.” Rose is critical at the end of the day and Norman is in a cast.

Chaz brought Norman in and doesn’t know that Pratt was injured in the ambulance explosion. Gates takes Chaz to see Pratt.

Pratt is hurt and needs to be intubated, but the staff is able to stabilize him. The U.S. Marshal from the finale is there, and he and Pratt share a thumbs up, which seems to indicate that the events had something to do with Art/Arnie, the patient in the witness protection program.

Soon, a bulge starts growing at the base of Pratt’s jaw, and his condition deteriorates also. Neela comes to address the mass, and her efforts appear successful. But just as Abby is stabilizing Jasmine in Trauma 2, things turn grave again for Pratt in Trauma 1. Gates starts CPR and they order a by-pass machine. The neurologist explains to the staff that Pratt appears brain-dead, probably from an air embolus. The neurologist wants to test Pratt over the next four hours. Betina is called. At the 2 hour mark, things still don’t look good for Pratt. Gates mentions to Chaz that Pratt has a organ donor card.

Small things include that the staff thinks Dubenko has quit his job at County, and Brenner is actually teaching a med student who is actually pretty bright.

However, several days later, it seems Pratt’s funeral has taken place. Many of the staff are back at the ER, with Betina. Morris takes Betina to the break room as a trauma comes in. Chaz is there as well, and is angry at Gates, it appears, because the staff is going to get together at Ike’s.

The incoming trauma is Norman, the hero, and he’s septic. But the staff saves him, and Brenner reunites him with Rose who is now recovering.

Elsewhere in a city park, Neela and Dubenko, dressed in funeral attire walk along talking. Dubenko is dark and distant. Neela says she heard from Ray Barnett who wanted to come but had more surgery and could not. Neela’s feeling quite adrift after all that has happened. Later, after saving Norman, Brenner asks if he should wait for Neela to escort her to Ike’s, but she declines.

Later, at Ike’s, there is Frank, Sam, Gates, Abby, Morris, Malik, Zadro and Bardelli. 

Ray is finally mentioned!!!! Sadly Pratt’s dead.

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Here are a few LQ promo photos from the season premiere of ER! Pics courtesy of SpoilerTV

As a bonus- from several seasons back here are 5 awesome photos of Sherry Stringfield when she cam back to ER! I am hoping we see her during this last season.

Download ER- Life After Death

Remember a while back when we talked about this being the last season of ER and producers were trying to get old cast members to come back for an episode of the show and we joked that they should find a way to get Anthony Edwards back on the show for an episode even though his character died?

The producers have Anthony Edwards coming back to the show for an episode even though his character died.

You can probably guess how Dr. Mark Greene will be coming back. He hasn’t been kept alive by some mysterious millionaire in a mountain hideout all these years (though I would happily swallow such a soap opera-ish plot because I never thought they should have killed off Mark in the first place), the character will actually be seen in new flashbacks that have something to do with a new character played by Angela Bassett (this won’t be footage from past episodes, they’re new flashbacks to events we didn’t see on the show before).