Wyle's New "ER" Backdrop

By Stephen M. Silverman

08/21/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

And where is Noah Wyle's taking his Dr. John Truman Carter III character as "ER" enters its seventh season this fall? Into drug rehab in Atlanta. Wyle let the new plot twist slip out during a weekend public appearance last weekend, reports New York's Daily News. He told the audience at the Angel Food Awards, "If you saw the finale, you saw me injecting Fentanyl into my own wrists. I'm detoxing. I stay in the rehab center for one episode. But one episode plays out like I've been there for 90 days." Continuing to let the cat out of the bag, Wyle told Variety columnist Army Archerd that he's spoken to real-life emergency room physicians whose own lives have traveled down the same path. "They've lost their practices," said Wyle, 29. Archerd assures his readers that Carter isn't likely to lose his job since Wylie has at least two more years to go on his current "ER" contract.