Warning: spoilers ahead for the Season 7 finale of Chicago P.D. on NBC.
Chicago P.D. has officially wrapped on its seventh season, and the finale left even more questions than usual heading into a hiatus. Since the show had to stop production when there were still three episodes left, there wasn’t much in the way of closure, and fans have a lot to ponder over the coming months. What’s up with Upton, as the main character who’s not even in Chicago as of the Season 7 finale? What’s in store for Atwater after his ominous ending? What’s ahead for Halstead?
Those are only a few of the questions worth considering during the wait for Chicago P.D. Season 8. The unfinished plots mean there’s more to think about than the usual finale cliffhangers. So, read on for some of the biggest questions after the Chicago P.D. Season 7 finale and some ideas for what the answers could be!
What’s Up With Upton?
Hailey Upton started down a dark path in Chicago P.D. Season 7 when she orchestrated the death of a man who had (probably) arranged the murder of one of her C.I.s. She eventually crossed enough lines that Voight shipped her off to work with the FBI in New York for a few weeks and hopefully see the light again. At the same time, Season 7 saw her form a bond with Rojas and get even closer with Halstead, who Tracy Spiridakos described as Upton’s “anchor” and shared a phone conversation with her in the Season 7 finale.
Well, there’s at least one part of Upton’s fate that fans don’t need to worry about: she’s not staying in New York forever. Tracy Spiridakos will return for Season 8. Chicago P.D. showrunner Rick Eid teased that the shortened seventh season means P.D. may need to “rethink” Upton in the eighth season. Upton could be back on the straight and narrow after her time with the feds, ready for a relationship and solid police work. Or she could still need some more lessons about not crossing lines.
Can Atwater Still Do His Job?
The Season 7 finale was an Atwater-centric episode that was eventful enough that it arguably would have worked as a regular finale. Atwater made the dangerous decision to report a racist cop for going after a black man without probable cause. Since that racist cop died in the pursuit and had a lot of friends and family within CPD, Atwater made himself a lot of enemies. The final scene of the episode saw Doyle’s people within the CPD show up on Atwater’s street to make an implicit threat.
With so many cops within CPD now with a vendetta against him, Atwater could have a hard time doing his job safely. While the Intelligence cops are the most elite in CPD, the unit is relatively small, and there were more of Doyle’s people out to threaten Atwater than there are in all of Intelligence. Voight did pledge his and Intelligence’s support of Atwater, so Atwater isn’t alone. Still, his ability to do his job, protect himself, and protect others is in jeopardy in Season 8.
Can Burgess And Ruzek Move Past Their Tragedy?
Fans of the good ship Burzek seemed to be having a pretty great run with Season 7… until it suddenly went very wrong for Burgess and Ruzek. Burgess wound up pregnant after a post-crossover hookup with Ruzek, and while the two weren’t a couple, they were happily looking forward to co-parenting until Burgess suffered a brutal miscarriage after being beaten by a sex trafficker. After some tension, they worked their way back to being friends, but neither got much spotlight in the finale.
As the longest-running major couple/potential couple currently on Chicago P.D., Burzek as a duo seems bound to be revisited. That said, whether they will be romantically revisited in Season 8 is less certain. Chicago P.D. was renewed for three seasons, so there’s no rush, and the Season 8 romantic focus seems to be on a different duo within Intelligence. If P.D. isn’t going to go the route of coupling up most of its Intelligence cops, then Burzek fans may be left waiting again.
Will Upton And Halstead Finally Get Together?
Sparks began to fly more and more between Upstead in Chicago P.D. Season 7, helped by Halstead getting himself shot (again) and forcing Upton to face her feelings for him. A case involving abuse prompted Upton to open up even more, and their reactions to being separated with Upton in New York suggested that they weren't just missing each other as best buds and partners. They were teasing, making plans for pizza, and were altogether the least ominous part of the Season 7 finale.
According to showrunner Rick Eid, Upton and Halstead really are falling in love with each other. They do face challenges, not the least of which is actually admitting their feelings to each other. They’d also have to consider whether they’d risk their solid partnership for a romance that may or may not work, and there’s the fact that both have been part of workplace romances that ended in death, mess, and/or heartbreak. There will be challenges, but it should make for good TV.
Who Is/Was Going To Die?
Although Chicago P.D. never got to produce its intended Season 7 finale, showrunner Rick Eid did tease some of what was going to happen to TVLine, and that includes a death. Eid shared that “someone we know is murdered” in the original finale, and that episode will “probably get pushed to Episode 4 or 5” of Season 8. So, who was on the chopping block? I assume that it wasn’t one of the main Intelligence cops or Trudy, but I think we can at the very, very least rule out Upton, Halstead, and Voight.
With three episodes that weren’t produced, Chicago P.D. could have introduced a new character who could gain prominence, only to be murdered, or bring back a familiar face to be murdered. Given Atwater’s plot in the Season 7 finale, I could see his brother Jordan as the victim in the intended finale. There haven’t been too many recurring characters from Season 7 who could conceivably die on P.D. and pack an emotional punch from the first 20 episodes. We can really only guess for now, but my money is on Jordan.
Will Chicago P.D. Cross Over With FBI Again?
When Chicago P.D. sent Upton over to FBI for an assignment, viewers officially got the first crossover between Dick Wolf’s NBC shows and his CBS shows, effectively making one big shared universe out of One Chicago, Law & Order: SVU, FBI, and FBI: Most Wanted. For now, though, Upton is the only connection, and one of her two planned FBI episodes in the 2019-2020 season had to be scrapped.
Will FBI bring back Hailey if it scores a renewal for Season 3? Will Chicago P.D. recruit some FBI characters for a case? Could some FBI characters make the jump to One Chicago if FBI doesn’t get that renewal? The One Chicago crossovers are obviously much easier than Chicago P.D. and FBI, which film in different cities and air on different networks. Still, the first team-up with Chicago P.D.’s Upton on FBI worked, so I can see it happening again next season. Rick Eid is showrunner on both shows, after all!
Unfortunately, Chicago P.D. fans probably have a long time to consider these and any other questions left after the seventh season on NBC. There’s no saying when production on Season 8 will be able to safely begin, so it’s possible P.D. won’t make its usual September premiere. Still, only time will tell, and there are plenty of other viewing options headed to the small screen to fill primetime even without One Chicago.
See what’s coming to TV in the not-too-distant future with our 2020 spring premiere guide and our 2020 summer premiere schedule.
