Summer is still in full swing, but the three Chicago shows on NBC are already gearing up for fall TV season. The casts of Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, and Chicago P.D. recently got together in -- where else? -- Chicago to celebrate the beginning of new seasons. The three shows have made for one intense block of primetime for NBC, and the casts look pretty excited about what's in store. Take a look!
If anybody in that restaurant had a real fire, medical, or police emergency, I hope the actors remembered that they don't actually know how to save lives, no matter how many crises they tackled on their Chicago shows! According to the tweet, production on all three series in the Chicago franchise began on July 12, and the casts were all smiles the night before. I do have to wonder if those smiles will change for the Fire cast, if they have to fight even fake fires in the middle of July!
Interestingly, there are some key members of the casts missing from the photo, and not just the former regulars who won't be around for the 2019-2020 season. Colin Donnell, who will reprise his role as Connor Rhodes one more time for Med's Season 5 premiere, wasn't present, nor were some of the big names of the shows.
Notably, Jason Beghe (who plays Chicago P.D. lead Hank Voight) is nowhere to be found. Also absent are Jesse Lee Soffer (Jay Halstead, brother of Med's Will Halstead), and several of the firefighters from Fire's Firehouse 51. There are a number of possible reasons for their absences, and some are more troubling than others.
Chicago P.D. and Chicago Fire ended on cliffhangers for several characters. Most of the Fire characters' lives were in jeopardy due to a fire at a mattress factory, so it's possible that one or more of the actors aren't around because their characters perished in the inferno.
Jay Halstead wasn't in any particular danger in the P.D. finale, but Voight was part of a cliffhanger that could take him out of commission for a while, as part of the best of the three Chicago season finales back in May. Do these missing actors mean that their characters will be gone at least at the beginning of the new season?
It's possible! It's also possible that some of these actors simply couldn't make it to the dinner, or even that they were asked to step out of the picture to prevent fans from gleaning any spoilers about characters' fates. Maybe some of the cast members are standing just off-camera!
2019 Fall TV Premiere Schedule: Dates For New And Returning Shows
Unfortunately, we have a bit of a wait before we find out the fates of all these characters for sure, although hopefully the trailers that release ahead of the fall premieres will eventually shed some light. The three Chicago shows will continue to air in one big block on Wednesday nights, with Med first at 8 p.m. ET, followed by Fire at 9 p.m. ET and P.D. at 10 p.m. ET.
