One Chicago kicked off the 2019-2020 season on a dark note due to deaths and departures across all three shows, and one of the biggest blows was to Chicago P.D. with the off-screen departure of Antonio Dawson. Was it as devastating as what happened to Otis on Chicago Fire, or as shocking as what Ava did on Chicago Med? Not quite. Still, he was written pretty unceremoniously out of P.D. without anything in the way of follow-up on what happened next for him. Thankfully, an update is on the way.
As it turns out, however, the update isn't coming from Chicago P.D. No, the news about Antonio will come from none other than Chicago Fire thanks to Monica Raymund's return to Firehouse 51 as Gabby Dawson in Fire's fall finale. P.D. fans will recall that Antonio's absence was explained as Antonio deciding to go help his sister in Puerto Rico rather than stay in Chicago, and Fire will provide some answers about what followed.
Chicago Fire showrunner Derek Haas spoke with CinemaBlend about the fall finale that brings back Gabby, and he told me this when I asked if her return will bring an update on her brother:
Yes, yes, we will find out an update on Antonio, for sure.
Of course, Derek Haas didn't spill the details of what Gabby will have to say about her brother during her triumphant (if temporary) return to Firehouse 51, but his comment does reveal when the update on Antonio is coming. Monica Raymund is back on Chicago Fire in the Season 8 fall finale, called "Best Friend Magic," which airs Wednesday, November 20 at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.
That places it directly before the fall finale of Chicago P.D. Season 7, which looks like it'll be too busy with Halstead's bloody situation to drop any exposition about what Antonio is doing. Admittedly, it's probably pretty safe to say that he's doing relief work of some sort, but I'm sure P.D. fans will take whatever details they can get.
After all, Antonio has been a key figure on not one but three shows of One Chicago, even if one of those shows did technically only last a single season. After debuting on Fire, helping to launch P.D., and temporarily moving to Justice, Antonio is part of the foundation of One Chicago. Whatever he's doing, hopefully the work is keeping him on the straight and narrow after spending half a season dealing with a drug habit.
While P.D. viewers have to wait until the Fire fall finale to find out what's going on with Antonio, Derek Haas did clarify whether or not he talked to the Chicago P.D. crew before including an update in Gabby's big return episode:
I did, yeah. I talked to [Chicago P.D. showrunner] Rick Eid and just said this is what I was planning on doing, and he was like, 'Great!' So it worked out well.
So there you have it! If you want to find out what's going on with good old Antonio Dawson, tune in to the Chicago Fire fall finale. Rick Eid, who previously shared with CinemaBlend that the goal for the Chicago P.D. Season 7 premiere was originally to bring back Jon Seda to send off his character, signed off on how Fire is explaining Antonio's status, so it should be valuable information, even if it's not much. After all, it's not like Fire brought Gabby back just to gab about her brother at length. Not when the heat is back on with Casey!
The update on Antonio Dawson comes in Chicago Fire's final episode of 2019 on NBC Wednesday, November 20 at 9 p.m. ET, between the game-changing fall finale of Chicago Med at 8 p.m. ET and the bloody fall finale of Chicago P.D. at 10 p.m. ET.
