As the executive producer on the hit NBC show ER, John Wells has had a huge impact on the entertainment industry. The show will go into its 15 (and final) season in September. Wells talks (and talks and talks) about the series’ conclusion, the possible return of ER alumni, and more.

What’s in store in the ER in the upcoming episodes?
Well, you know, Noah Wyle will be returning to the show next year. You know, he has – he and I always kind of had a long term arrangement about when the show was going to come to an end that his character returns.

So because he has been off working in the volunteer and sort of Doctors Without Borders world for awhile -- his character has been -- I’m sure that’ll come back into it as part of his return. But, you know, we - it’s a little early to kind of figure it out for sure …

There’s some talk about Shane West coming back to the show … Any news on that?
Well, you know, I love Shane and we would love to have him come back for some episodes. What we’re doing now is kind of planning or beginning the planning for the final season which will go on the air next September. And as part of that, we’ll be contacting really pretty much everybody, seeing who wants to come back and do a little spin. I’ll be asking people who want to come back and be part of the last season. And we’ll see who wants to do it and if we have storylines. But I love Shane and I’d love it if we could figure out a way to make that work.

After doing ER for more than a decade, what’s it like going to the doctor for you?
It’s scary to understand stuff. You know, there’s a lot of those words that they use because you don’t really want to know what it means … You know. I mean - yeah, ‘galapcholi’ sounds very, you know, it sound very benign. But it’s actually sort of a miserable thing that you never want to have happen.

The other thing I find that I do is I will try, you know, in my very pretentious way to sound like I know more than I do. And what I will draw from that is somebody speaking to me as if I’m actually a physician. And then - and so I’ll leave the room having - knowing absolutely nothing about my medical condition because I’m too embarrassed to say well I just threw in a couple of words to try and sound smart, but now I have no idea what the hell you just said.

What was the strike like for you?
You know, it’s very odd. You know, at the beginning of the strike we were positioned at the main entrance to Warner Brothers so everybody was driving past us and you’re out there walking around with a sign and eating pizza.

And then when things really ground to a halt by Christmastime and there were a couple more months where nothing was going on, you know, for me it is missing the people that you work with.

Have shows like Grey’s Anatomy forced ER to evolve and if so, how?
You know, it hasn’t really - not because I don’t admire the shows, but I don’t really watch them. And I have friends who work on all of them. It’s a little difficult. They’ll call me up and say hey, can you watch my - this episode or that episode I’ve written or that I’ve directed, or I’m acting in.

But there aren’t that many different medical stories and so, you know, we’re always just looking for different ways to do them. And so I try to not be influenced by having seen something where I would say oh they just did that or they just did this. So we actually haven’t watched them. I was surprised at how long it took for another successful medical series to show up. You know, we were really sort of at the end of our eleventh season, you know, before Grey’s Anatomy moved in to do well. I’m most happy for them and then House roughly about the same time. I don’t remember exactly.

So we had the world to ourselves for a long time and it was inevitable that someone else would do it well or, you know, find other variations on the kind of thing that we were doing because we were - when we started, we were finding variations on things other people had done before us.

So - but it certainly has made a difference in the audience. You know, the audience finds new things. That’s the nature of anything that you do in the popular culture.

And, you know, and I think ultimately if you can say that anything hastened the end of a 15-year series, the success of the other shows have reduced our audience and we want to be able to go out while we’re still doing well and still proud of what we’re doing. So that’s why we’re thinking that this coming season will be our last year.

Do you know who you will invite back? There has been talk that Anthony will come back in a dream sequence …
You know, I haven’t talked to Anthony in awhile - to Tony in awhile. He did a wonderful thing last year. He and his family took off - he’s got a bunch of kids, he and Jeanine.

And they went around the world for a year with a tutor and I haven’t talked to him since he got back. So I’m not quite sure where that rumor came from. I haven’t really thought about it.

We sit down and - right around Memorial Day, the whole writing staff. It’s a terrible time. We go to Hawaii and sit around and figure out what we want to do for the next year. And so over the summertime, I’ll start contacting people once we have an idea. You know, people aren’t going to come back unless - and some people may not come back at all under any circumstances.

But they’re certainly going to want to know if we’re asking them to come back, what it is we’re asking them to do and what would they get to play.

What about George Clooney?
Well, you know, I would doubt - I love George. He’s a friend of mine. I would doubt very much that he would come back to the show. I know that’s the first question that everybody always asks ...

To actually step back in a role that you haven’t played for eight or nine years, you know, the ability to get back into that character and into that performance -- particularly for some of the people -- may be very difficult.

You know, I actually - a few years - a few weeks ago -- excuse me -- I had somebody put together the whole list of everybody who had been a regular who was still alive as a character. And I was kind of amazed at some of the people I’d kind of forgotten who were around on the show at the beginning - not forgotten exactly, but I did major guest stars and things who have gone on to other things -- Kirsten Dunst and Maria Bello. And, you know, there were a lot of people who have gone on to do, you know, other things that are pretty extraordinary.

What’s been the most rewarding part of your career in this industry?
You know, I grew up in Arapahoe County, Colorado and I was just so happy not to be roofing houses anymore. And that’s absolutely the truth. I never thought - I mean, in my deepest, darkest hopes, I hoped that I would be able to make a living somewhere in dinner theater or regional theater, doing something where I just got to be around the actors and the designers, and writers and directors and people that I so admired and loved.

So honestly, what’s been rewarding about it is, you know, that extraordinary chance that some of us get to actually do what we love and to make a living at it when you come from someplace where it seems like an impossible dream to be able to do that.

I know that sounds a little hokey and Pollyanna-ish, but that’s the absolute truth for me.

*Photos: Courtesy NBC