Much of Chicago PD season 12 is a season of personal growth and deep character exploration.
This has led to one of Chicago PD’s strongest seasons in recent years, and fortunately for us, that energy will continue as we continue the remainder of the season.
When we last spoke with showrunner Gwen Sigan, she discussed the series’ soft reboot feel and teased all the exciting new developments for Intelligence, both professionally and personally.
We were lucky enough to catch up with her again as part of the One Chicago junket to find out what we can expect from the rest of the season and whether the first post-pandemic One Chicago crossover will be as epic as we imagined!
When we last spent time with Intelligence, new Director Reed put Voight and the others in a hot spot when he let Voight and the others know that he knew about Torres in Chicago PD Season 12 Episode 8 Illicit relationship with Gloria.
Now, we want to know what Reed knows, how he knows it, and what type of adversary he will be to Voight and intelligence.
Of course, there’s more to come this season, and we plan to dive deeper into Kiana Cook’s background as season MVP Kim grapples with a new phase in her life and navigating her new position, the Parenthood, family, and the new life ahead.
We did our best to cover it all with showrunner Gwen Sigan, so check out everything she had to say below!
Reed has to be one of the most puzzling characters we’ve seen in the series in quite some time. Is there anything you can share about his motivations and how Voight tried to escape his control?
Yes, it’s interesting. He is a difficult and elusive character to read.
It’s a slow burn. We are slowly learning who this man is and what he wants. Now of course we know he’s on top of all of Voight’s scandals, and the stakes are high.
He could essentially dismantle the entire unit and potentially throw Torres in jail. You can see that Voight isn’t very comfortable with the relationship and being controlled by someone. Over time, we’ll learn more about Reed and what those motivations are.
As the two of them get to know each other, it becomes a game of cat and mouse, with Voight trying to figure out how they can manipulate the man, who we’ll learn is very good at manipulating people.
He’s very good at this match and I think this is one of the stronger opponents Voight has faced in a while. He’s like a playground mirror version of Voight. The opponents Voit faced knew how his mind worked and were always two steps ahead.
We use this character to talk a lot about whether Voight has changed. Who is Voight? Is he the evolution we’ve been trying to make him out to be? Is he still the same old Voight, just dressed differently?
Yes, this season feels very personal. We’re getting to know all the characters in depth. Will this continue in the second half of the season? I know we’re going to be doing some Kiana exploration soon, right?
The first episode is back [Chicago PD Season 12 Episode 9]It’s all about Cook. This is a very exciting action ride. But it’s all about telling the story of who Cooke is and where she comes from. We haven’t really learned much about her background yet.
Cases naturally presented themselves in ways that surprised her. I don’t think we would have met these people if it hadn’t been for this case.
We meet her father and mother in this episode. We get a sense of the different worlds Cooke belongs to, how they shaped who she is today, and why she became a police officer.
This is interesting, Toya [Turner] great.
Sounds interesting. I’m looking forward to it!
This also feels like Kim Burgess’ season. She went through a lot of transformation and progress. What challenges will she face professionally and personally in the second half of the season?
God, so much happened to her. There were so many transitions and I thought she handled it very well. She has found her footing as a detective and leader of the department.
We’ll see this progress as she naturally takes more ownership and leadership. But she also encountered all of these things when she became Ruzek’s partner, who went through some difficult times in the second half of the season. She is also Makayla’s mother and is planning a wedding.
a lot of. We’ll see all of this come to fruition a little bit in episode 16, where she has to not deal with it because she asked for it.
But I think the reality of change is that a lot of times it can feel stressful, and even good stress, even when good things happen, can feel overwhelming.
It really affected her, and we see in episode 16 how she deals with it through interesting, different structures.
This is true for all of them. And, this is the first time we’ve had a major crossover since pre-pandemic. So what goes into it? What can you make fun of about that? Whose life hangs in the balance? Someone’s got it, I’m sure!
I know! Definitely. No, it’s funny. Of course, it’s a challenge because these things are logistically difficult to make.
But we already shot it. We shot it before the holidays so it all came together. Big! I thought the production values were cool.
It looks really good so far. The cast are all great. There are some very interesting pairings. You just can’t keep seeing these characters together in different shows.
It’s fun to see people taking on different roles and interacting with each other than they normally would. Our tone and everything is so different. Even on set, it was fun to have all the firefighters as a riot and see our characters interact with them in different ways. What a great time!
How is Torres’s mentality after losing Gloria and gaining a little trust from the team, especially Kiana?
Yes, he is the opposite of the good times. He’s definitely going through that process this year.
It was nice to have Gloria’s stuff back, and it had an impact on him. Last year, we lived in the joy of romance. But it’s also an interesting bet. What an interesting choice this character makes for this romance.
We teased the reasons why, but this season, you really get to learn more about the reasons why these two are attracted to each other. A lot of it comes from the similar trauma they see in each other. When Torres dies, it triggers this.
In the second half of the season, we see him deal with a lot of these things subconsciously, almost going back to his past and childhood.
We get to see this side of the character and the side of him that he struggles with. Ultimately he had to make a big impact on his relationship with his faith and why it was such a big part of his life.
He’s such a good actor, Benny. He’s just getting better and better. He elevates everything we give Him. It was fun to write and know that we could get into really interesting spaces with him.
Will we see Chapman return? Because we are still hanging on that confession. She has been rude to us since then.
We are in the balance. Yes, she’s back. She returns in episode 15.
We immediately go back to that story to see what was done in the time apart and then return to their relationship.
She played an integral role in the second half of the season and played a lot alongside Reed. She, Voight and Reed become this interesting triangle.
Which upcoming storylines are you most excited about?
a lot of! I’m very proud of these Ruzek episodes we’re putting out. I think Paddy did a really good job. Jack Coleman, who plays his father, is back.
We’re working on this episode of Atwater right now, which I think is profound and different for him. It shows us another side of his character.
Val is back. I really like Natalie Lynez who plays her. I’m excited about this. I think fans are going to love that.
A crossover of course. Hope everyone enjoys it because it’s a fun, big action movie.
Over to you, Chicago PD fanatics. Has Sigan teased anything that piqued your interest? Sound off in the comments below!
Chicago PD returns with an action-packed and exciting new episode tonight at 10/9c.
Don’t forget to check back with us for a full review!
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