“Made a lot of sense to us”

Showrunner Gwen Sagan reveals that Hailey Upton’s Chicago PD Season 12 replacement has already been decided. Chicago PD Season 11 was a tough year for Intelligence. Apart from additional reeling from the Sudden departure of Jesse Lee Safer’s Jay HalsteadHank Voight’s team is also operating understaffed. Despite this, they are still effective in their work, taking down bad guys and serving justice. However, his biggest shock came at the end of the year, when Tracy Spiridakos’ Upton decided to leave. Since then, the hunt for her intelligence replacement has been ongoing.

Days before one Chicago returns, Sigan revealed to TV Insider That they decided who would step into Afton’s vacant position Chicago PD Season 12. Instead of bringing in an entirely new character to replace her, Intelligence is promoting an existing member to become Voight’s newest detective. Cigan didn’t reveal who it will be, but she’s sure the choice makes sense. Read her full quote below:

“Someone gets promoted, and this is someone who I think has wanted it for a while and that it made a lot of sense for us. In the [writers’] Zimmer, we’ve been talking about this storyline for so long, but how do you make it a story? How do you make it interesting? How do you make it something that really reveals something about who the person is and isn’t just a piece of paper?

We really lean into the actual promotion process in Chicago and just show that it’s really hard to become a detective, and so to see and see the character and what it means to look at what you want to be as a police officer and how it Will be affected by a promotion like this is really fun. And I think it will add some new dynamics to the camera.

Why it makes sense for Upton’s replacement to be in common sense

The transition will be easier if Upton’s replacement is an existing Chicago PD character

Chicago PD has a history of caste departures, But the exit of Spiridakos is particularly difficult because of his impact on intelligence. Losing Halstead was already big, but now that his ex-wife is no longer on the team, Voight has no clear deputy; There are no more existing detectives in the squad. Besides that, her departure also shrinks Intelligence to just five personnel. The silver lining is that Chicago PD Season 12 was forced to promote one of the remaining veteran cast members: Adam Ruzek, Kevin Atwater and Kim Burgess. Cigan does not name who will be promoted, however.

All are great in their own right and can be capable leaders in Chicago PD. But among the trio, Burgess is in the best position to be promoted at this point. While Ruzek and Atwater have been with Intelligence longer, she has had the least personal issues in the past few years. In terms of optics, Burgess is more suited to step up to the plate than Upton’s replacement Chicago PD Season 12. She can call out Voight when the Intelligence leader is out of line more effectively than her peers. This is a vital trait for the position.

Our take on Upton’s replacement in Chicago PD Season 12

Intelligence still needs a new member

Overall, it’s a great move to finally promote someone in Intelligence. Since Burgess transitioned to being a patrol officer, Voight’s team is pretty stagnant. Chicago PD Season 10 added Dante TorresBut that didn’t affect those who were original characters in Dick Wolf’s One Chicago Police Procedural. I prefer Burgess to be promoted, but none of the veteran officers would be as great as Upton’s successor. Except this one Chicago PD Still needs to add another new member to improve his list. Perhaps they can bring in Josephine Petrovic as a regular.

Briefly, there was an assumption that Petrovic could just come in and fill the void that Upton was leaving. The fact that they worked on a few cases before Spiridakos’ character moved from Chicago seemed like the perfect setup for this. That would also be the easiest thing to do. That said, I’m not sure it would have been a satisfying route for long-time viewers Chicago PDConsidering Berges, Atwater, and Ruzek are still waiting to be promoted. Petrovic is the best way to go to be a new member of Intelligence, but not Voight’s new deputy.

Could Spiridakos’ Upton still return to Chicago PD?

The door is always open for Upton

Upton’s exit from Chicago PD Was due to Spiridakos’ decision to export, but in the story, she wanted a fresh start after Halstead just left her in Chicago. before leaving, Upton got Voight’s blessingAfter she got closer to him since her ex-husband moved in Chicago PD Season 10. The intelligence leader made it clear that the door is always open for her, in case she wants to come back to her old team. This makes it easier for One Chicago to reincorporate her into the procedural if Spiridakos decides to reprise her role as Upton.

For what it’s worth, the Chicago PD The season 11 finale was able to bring back Al Olinsky despite the character’s death in season 5. Voight’s best friend was brutally murdered, but he appeared to the intelligence leader as a vision that kept him alive while Upton struggled to save him. Because of this, there should be no problem with Spiridakos’ character potentially finding her way back to the Windy City. Additionally, One Chicago blocked Upton’s future fate, so she could always go back up to the 21st District to re-team with her old team, even for a temporary setup.

Source: TV Insider