Chicago P.D. (TV series)

Chicago P.D. is an American police procedural drama television series created by Dick Wolf and Matt Olmstead as a part of Wolf's "Chicago" franchise. The series premiered on NBC as a mid-season replacement on January 8, 2014. The show follows the uniformed patrol officers and the Intelligence Unit of the 21st District of the Chicago Police Department as they pursue the perpetrators of the city's major street offenses.
On February 27, 2020, NBC renewed the series for an eighth, ninth and tenth season. The eighth season premiered on November 11, 2020.
Plot.
A spin-off of "Chicago Fire", "Chicago P.D." focuses on the fictional 21st District, which houses patrol officers and the department's elite Intelligence Unit, led by Detective Sergeant Hank Voight (Jason Beghe). The first three seasons and the first half of season four focuses on both the patrol and Intelligence officers, and shifts to focus on the Intelligence Unit from the second half of season four on, after Officer Kevin Atwater (LaRoyce Hawkins) and Officer Kim Burgess (Marina Squerciati) advance to the Intelligence Unit.
Episodes.
Spin-off.
At the 2016 Television Critics Association winter press tour, NBC Entertainment president Jennifer Salke revealed that the network had discussions with Dick Wolf about a fourth series in the "Chicago" franchise centered on the legal system. The working title was "Chicago Law". Salke has since confirmed that the series was officially in development. The series was a spin-off of "Chicago P.D." by introducing Assistant State's Attorney (ASA) characters in the 21st episode of "P.D."s third season. Philip Winchester was the first to be cast. Nazneen Contractor joined the series in March 2016 and the title was changed to "Chicago Justice". "Rocky" alum Carl Weathers played Cook County State's Attorney Mark Jefferies, while Joelle Carter also starred. Lorraine Toussaint reprised her role as defense attorney Shambala Green, who appeared in seven episodes of "Law & Order". On May 12, 2016, NBC gave "Chicago Justice" a series order. On September 28, it was reported that Jon Seda would join the cast and that his character Antonio would become an investigator for the DA's office. The series ran from March 1, to May 14, 2017. In July 2017, it was announced that Seda would rejoin "Chicago P.D." full-time.
Production.
On March 27, 2013, it was reported that NBC was considering plans for a spin-off of "Chicago Fire". Deadline Hollywood revealed that the proposed spin-off would involve the Chicago Police Department, and would be created and executive produced by Dick Wolf, Derek Haas, Michael Brandt, and Matt Olmstead. On May 10, 2013, NBC picked up the show for the 2013–14 United States network television schedule. On May 12, 2013, the show was announced as an unscheduled midseason replacement. The show premiered on January 8, 2014.
It came to light in November 2017 that Bush had left the show because of Beghe's behavior behind the scenes. Bush's claims led NBC to open an investigation into Beghe's behavior. On November 21, 2017, Deadline reported that Beghe was investigated for behavior that was considered overly aggressive and may have been sexual harassment. Beghe released a statement in which he admitted to engaging in aggressive behavior and apologized for it.
The seventh season premiered on September 25, 2019.
Filming.
The series is filmed entirely in Chicago. The exterior of the station house is the Old Maxwell Street Police Station (943 West Maxwell Street) and is the same location that was used in the series "Hill Street Blues". It is located about half a mile from the firehouse location of "Chicago Fire" at 1360 S. Blue Island Ave.
On March 13, 2020, Universal Television production of the seventh season was shut down due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic.
Casting.
Cast members include Jason Beghe as the Intelligence team Sergeant Hank Voight and Jon Seda as Detective Antonio Dawson. Actors Tania Raymonde, Kelly Blatz, Scott Eastwood, and Melissa Sagemiller were initially cast as well.
However, as the show went into pre-production, the cast began to change. On June 13, 2013, it was announced that Melissa Sagemiller would no longer be a part of the show and Jesse Lee Soffer officially joined the cast as a series regular. On August 23, 2013, Patrick Flueger and "One Tree Hill" star Sophia Bush joined the cast as Officer Adam Ruzek and Detective Erin Lindsay, respectively. Marina Squerciati joined the cast on August 28, 2013. On August 30, Elias Koteas became a regular. Archie Kao was announced as a regular on September 27, 2013. On October 21, 2013, Stella Maeve was cast in a recurring role as Nadia, a pretty 18-year-old escort who is addicted to heroin and goes through a very difficult withdrawal. Sydney Tamiia Poitier was announced as a guest star in December 2013. On December 20, 2013, it was announced that both Eastwood and Raymonde had departed the series over creative differences.
In September 2016, it was reported that Seda would move to the legal drama spin-off "Chicago Justice" as a regular. In May 2017, it was announced that Bush would depart the series after four seasons. After "Chicago Justice"s cancellation, in July 2017 it was announced that Seda would move back to "Chicago P.D." as a series regular for season five. In July 2017, Tracy Spiridakos was promoted to series regular as Det. Hailey Upton after a three-episode guest stint in season four. On April 19, 2019, NBC announced that Seda would leave the series again at the end of the sixth season.
Reception.
Reviews.
"Chicago P.D." has received mixed reviews from critics. Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the drama a rating of 50 based on 22 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Rotten Tomatoes gives season 1 a rating of 61% based on reviews from 31 critics, with an average rating of 5.29/10 and a consensus which states "Though it suggests potential for greater success, Chicago P.D. is ultimately an old school cop show, content to mimic Hill Street Blues and other classic procedurals".
Ray Rahman of "Entertainment Weekly" gave the drama a favorable review: "It's hard to imagine the series capturing the compelling, can't-watch-just-one magic that makes the "Law & Order" franchise so marathonable, but it moves just fast enough to keep you from changing the channel in search of an SVU re-run." Alessandra Stanley of "The New York Times" also gave the series a positive review when it premiered on January 8: ""Chicago P.D." is, in many ways, a throwback to an earlier, male-dominated era of crime shows, yet it carves out room for strong female characters who are good at their jobs and taken seriously by their colleagues." Robert Bianco of "USA Today" expressed disappointment: "When did Wolf's work, which used to show some grace and wit, become this ugly, plodding and crass?"