The hours are counting down until the three shows of One Chicago come together for the very first crossover since 2019, and the event in the 2025 TV schedule is going to need all hands on deck between Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., and Chicago Med. Ahead of the three-parter, cast members Darren Barnet, Miranda Rae Mayo, and LaRoyce Hawkins opened up in an exclusive BTS video (seen above) about living in the "same world," while all three showrunners spoke with CinemaBlend about how the crossover this time around will feel worthy of Avengers: Endgame.
What The One Chicago Stars Have Said
In the clip above, behind-the-scenes photos show One Chicago actors looking happy as they hang out with stars from the other series, but their characters likely won't have many reasons to smile once the action really gets going on Wednesday night.
The crossover, called "In the Trenches," kicks off with Chicago Fire at 8 p.m. ET and will feature first responders uniting after a gas explosion, a fire that showrunner Andrea Newman described as so big that it was "freaking out the neighbors," and a subway tunnel collapse that will leave some main characters' lives in jeopardy. Plus, with Chicago P.D. in the mix following Chicago Med, fans can count on a criminal element to the catastrophe.
And for Darren Barnet as Dr. Frost, "In the Trenches" will be his very first crossover event after joining Med in Season 10. He hyped how the characters from his show "live in the same world" as Miranda Rae Mayo's and LaRoyce Hawkins' programs.
Mayo and Hawkins have been part of One Chicago for much longer, so it's no wonder that the P.D. star knows what he's talking about when it comes to the chemistry between co-stars, and Mayo quite skillfully avoided dropping any spoilers while also hyping the event.
As for the showrunners, they could get into a bit more detail about what's on the way.
What The Showrunners Told Us
Although Fire's Andrea Newman and P.D.'s Gwen Sigan were both active in One Chicago during the "Infection" crossover of 2019 (with Sigan credited with the teleplay for one of the episodes), "In the Trenches" will be their first as solo showrunners alongside 2024-2025 newcomer Allen MacDonald of Med. So, when I was fortunate enough to speak with all three ahead of the event on January 29, I had to get their thoughts on how Steven Weber compared it to Avengers: Endgame.
Allen MacDonald, who was surprised by how much the preview for the crossover revealed, shared his take on the Med actor's comments:
I thought that was a great comparison. You know, Steven Weber, he's good with the sound bites, so that was the perfect way to explain it. It does feel like it, and there are hero shots like that in the episodes with all our characters marching down. I know in Med, there's a big shot of several of the characters marching down the hallway, and it's great.
Med will actually air second on the night in the 9 p.m. ET time slot that usually belongs to Fire, so that the firefighter drama can set off the catastrophe that will drive the events of the crossover. After confirming that Joe Cruz is indeed missing "In the Trenches," Andrea Newman agreed with the comparison to Avengers: Endgame:
That's exactly right. It absolutely feels like a movie in a way. It's so cinematic and it's really gorgeous in terms of the way they shot it. And it's amazing that there are three different directors, because you don't feel that. It's just driving through the three hours. I couldn't believe it. When I looked up at the end of it, I was like, 'That's not possible. I just watched all three of them?' There's a lot happening. But Avengers is right. I love that comparison, because it's all the characters uniting and coming together.
Chicago P.D. boss Gwen Sigan even promised that "In the Trenches" will feel more cohesive and cinematic than "Infection" did more than five years ago. (You can find that crossover streaming with a Peacock subscription.) She immediately said "Oh yeah!" when I mentioned Steven Weber's comparison to Avengers: Endgame, then elaborated on the challenges of having three different directors for one movie-length event:
Really hard! They had to work together a lot. The three writers had to be in constant communication, and the directors too. Certainly you're using the same sets, you're using the same cast, and so all of those decisions everyone makes together. You cast a character that's going to be in all three hours, everyone signs off on the same character. It just was constant communication and everyone working together. Lots of meetings. [laughs] Not very exciting.
The crossover was written by Victor Teran (Fire), Joe Halpin (P.D.), and Stephen Hootstein (Med), who were tasked with pitching ideas to Wolf Entertainment before the storyline was chosen, and the scripts were written "with a lot of input, from Wolf Entertainment and the showrunners," according to Allen MacDonald. He went on:
Andrea, Gwen, and I were definitely involved and had interactions. One of the big things that we interacted with each other about was that once the scripts are written, we're not used to writing each other's characters. There was a little back and forth about like, 'Well, I think that Voight would say something this way rather than that,' or 'That's not really something Dr. Lenox would say that way.' So we collaborated on working those things out.
Luckily, the long wait to see the One Chicago characters living in the same world for a three-parter is nearly over. Tune in to NBC tonight for the "In the Trenches" crossover event, starting with Chicago Fire at 8 p.m. ET, continuing with Chicago Med at 9 p.m. ET, and concluding with Chicago P.D. at 10 p.m. ET. You'll also be able to watch all three episodes streaming next day on Peacock.
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