As One Chicago Hypes The Fall Returns To NBC, I Now Know What I Want From Chicago P.D. Following Tracy Spiridakos' Departure
After the three shows of One Chicago wrapped with some eventful finales back in May, fans have had to consider the franchise's future following Fire's reveal about Severide's latest surprise sibling, Med putting Ripley's career in jeopardy, and P.D. saying goodbye to Tracy Spiridakos as Hailey Upton. NBC has now confirmed when the series will return in the fall of the 2024 TV schedule, and the way the news was announced helped me realize what I'd love to see in P.D.'s return without Spiridakos.
Fans can look forward to One Chicago coming back to NBC's primetime lineup on Wednesday, September 25. As usual, Chicago Med will air at 8 p.m. ET, Chicago Fire will air at 9 p.m. ET, and Chicago P.D. will air at 10 p.m. ET. I'm a fan of all three, and P.D. isn't the only show that will have to move forward without certain cast members after Eamonn Walker left Fire full-time and Dominic Rains' exit from Med was recently reported.
Still, as soon as I saw the fall premiere date news on One Chicago's Instagram account, I realized what I really want in P.D. Season 12: more of Dante Torres. Take a look:
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While Benjamin Levy Aguilar was a series regular in the shortened Season 11, Torres just wasn't around all that much beyond a couple of Torres-centric episodes. In fact, Aguilar's first episode of the eleventh season was the fourth overall. Seeing One Chicago hyping Season 12 with a photo of Aguilar and Marina Squerciati laughing behind the scenes is a reminder of what he brings to P.D. and Torres. With the Intelligence Unit losing Upton, giving more time to Torres could be a great way to move forward.
Admittedly, he did make some pretty questionable decisions as a CPD officer in Season 11 when he fell for a CI by the name of Gloria, but given that Halstead more or less did the same thing back in Season 5 with Camila, I'd say that there's no reason why the Gloria situation has to affect his place in Intelligence in the long term.
It remains to be seen if P.D. will add Bojana Novakovic's Detective Jo Petrovic as a new series regular after she got a hard launch in the second half of Season 11. Either way, I think there's room for Torres to get more attention when P.D. returns in September. At the very least, I'd love to see more of him looking up to Atwater, since they're a great duo whenever they're partnered.
Whether or not we'll see more of Torres come fall, it's good to have the official premiere date of September 25. In what remains of summer hiatus, you can always revisit earlier days of One Chicago with all three shows streaming via a Peacock Premium subscription.
