Among the cast changes, Tracy Spiridakos, who played Detective Hailey Upton since Season 4, will not be returning . Joining the mix, meanwhile, are Toya Turner ( Warrior Nun , New Amsterdam ) as Kiana Cook, a patrol officer who doesn’t blink in the face of chaos ( get full details ), and Shawn Hatosy ( SouthLAnd ) in the recurring role of Deputy Chief Charlie Reid.
And not event the returning faces are quite themselves.
The premiere, titled “Ten Ninety-Nine” and airing this Wednesday at 10/9c on NBC, picks up just a month after Voight’s close, season-ending brush with death, with Intelligence overwhelmed with cases as they catch a high-stakes drug bust.
TVLine invited showrunner Gwen Sigan to preview the season ahead.
TVLINE | Voight survived a brutal kidnapping , and then Upton left. How is that weighing on him this season? What’s he going through? He’s going through a lot. It’s so interesting because I think that Hank had this moment in the finale where it was the most vulnerable, especially physically, we’ve ever seen him. I don’t think he believed he was going to survive that. I think he thought, “I’m dying in this basement.,” and there’s a part of him probably that doesn’t quite understand why he didn’t . I think he thought, “I could go out like this,” and that would really shake up anybody, even someone as guarded and in the present as Hank Voight is. I do think this has caused him to have to stop for a second and be a bit introspective because he is realizing you don’t get a lot of time, and it can all be taken over you in a second. So, what does he want to do with that time? We’ll see how that manifests itself. It’s a really interesting, emotional journey that he has, and it will continue through the whole season. He’ll ask himself, “If I’m only going to have a little bit of time until suddenly this is all gone, am I doing enough with it? For the city, for the job, for all the people in my life, for myself? Could there be something else?” We get to live in all that with Hank.
TVLINE | How will that impact his relationship with the members of Intelligence? It’s going to be nice. They all have grown so much that they almost know him inside and out. And now not having Upton there, there’s a bit of a vacuum [because] she used to call him out, she would confront him. She would be very up in his face when he was going off the rails. So there is a question of who steps in, and we will see people having a bit of a different relationship within the unit. Who’s going to call him out? Who’s going to be his peer? In a lot of ways, Upton became that confidant for him.
Toya Turner in “Blood Bleeds Blue,” Episode 12×02 Courtesy of Lori Allen/NBC
TVLINE | You have Kiana Cook, played by Toya Turner, coming in. What can you share about this character and how she fits into fold? She’s very cool. She’s very different. She’s coming from patrol. She’s coming from not being that green, which is nice. We’ll meet her [in Episode 2] on a pretty active case. She has been through a lot within the police department and is looking for a place where she fits in… And so, she’s going to find a family within the 21st.
TVLINE | I’m curious about her dynamic with Intelligence. Especially with someone like Burgess, who also came in from patrol. Will we see parallels to their story? I think you’re going to see a lot of new relationships and new dynamics, even within the unit as we know it. It’s always fun to have somebody come in and shake things up a bit. So, there’s definitely a cool connection with her, Burgess… even Atwater. I think Torres and Ruzek kind of got to skip it, but they all have been on the streets. They know what that grind looks like.
And then, we have an episode where she really forms a great connection with Ruzek and sort of ends up becoming his partner, in a way. We really get to see how she works with somebody else, and he relies on her quite a bit in the episode.
One episode I’m working on is really interesting with Torres. Torres understands being the new guy, and I think he also understands often feeling like he’s in two worlds. He’s still finding “belonging” within the unit, so it’s a really nice relationship that the two of them have and I think there’s a bit of a kinship there.
TVLINE | Will she be a love interest for Atwater? Not off the bat. I mean, never say never. But I will say that Atwater might get a little romance this season. So, get excited.
TVLINE | We have seen Atwater have romances, but they haven’t been longstanding. Are you taking that into consideration for this new romance? You always want to do something that you haven’t done before because it’s the most fun, and just to grow him as a character. I think he is in this place where he’s grown up a lot and because of that, what he would be looking for if he were to get in something that isn’t casual is probably very different than what we’ve seen in some of the previous iterations of romances, where I think there was always something working against it. There were always big obstacles, and it didn’t feel like they could be long-term — especially the last one with Celeste, who didn’t know he was a cop. We want to do something very different, where it is somebody who can see him and can understand who he is pretty quickly. So, there’s a nice relationship that forms because of that. There’s a more accepting openness to it.
TVLINE | Last season, Burgess and Ruzek took a big step, getting engaged. What can you tease about their journey and potential upcoming nuptials? They are doing great. They’re in a good space. For us, the fun of it is we finally have them on this really nice footing that they’ve really earned. They’ve fought for it, and I think they’re in this place that now it only gets better. You deal with life together, and we’ll see them do that, and see them still have challenges — but we’ll see them navigating it as a team. This season, we get to see that bond to grow even closer.
TVLINE | What other big storylines are you excited to explore? Are there any exciting guest stars coming up? Lots of good guest stars. Our premiere has so many good guest stars in it. There’s a really fun CI character in Episode 1 that we’ll get to meet [named “Rabbit” and played by Brandon Gill]. And I think there’s a lot of opportunity to bring people back that we’ve seen before, some fun guest stars that can come back around.
TVLINE | Can we expect promotions? I can say there will be a promotion.
TVLINE | There will be a promotion? There will be a promotion, yes. Do with that what you will!
Want scoop on Chicago P.D. , or for any other TV show ? Email InsideLine@tvline.com , and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line!
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