If you felt your jaw hit the floor watching Chicago P.D. Season 12, you’re not alone. Deputy Chief Charlie Reid came in hot.
Mysterious, commanding, and deeply unsettling.
But who brought this dangerously charismatic character to life? It was actor Shawn Hatosy. You might recognize him from The Pitt and Animal Kingdom. His stint as Deputy Chief Reid was brief, brutal, and left a mark on the CPD universe.
And in true Chicago P.D. fashion, his arc ended with a bang. Literally.
Reid’s character unfolded like a noir thriller. Introduced in the season premiere, he seemed like just another bureaucratic foil to Voight. But by mid-season, we learned Reid was no ordinary cop. He was a mastermind with a sinister vision of order: corrupt to the core, building a shadow regime within the department.
Reid’s plotline was a ticking time bomb, and Shawn Hatosy’s performance was the fuse. As showrunner Gwen Sigan told NBC Insider, Hatosy was “the perfect guy for the role… he made it his own, and it wouldn’t have been what it is without him.”
Shawn Hatosy made Deputy Chief Reid unforgettable
Shawn Hatosy’s talent lies in crafting morally complex men. The ones we’re unsure whether to root for or run from. He’s no stranger to playing the “villain you almost understand,” as seen in his long run as Pope Cody on Animal Kingdom.
As Hatosy explained to NBC Insider, “Even if we’ve seen him do unimaginably bad things — if an audience can still say, ‘But I sort of sympathize with that character,’ to me that’s a successful character.” And that’s exactly what Reid was.
He wasn’t just crooked; he believed he was saving Chicago. Recruiting officers, blackmailing Voight (played by Jason Beghe on Chicago P.D.), and trying to reshape the city’s power structure. All of it stemmed from his twisted sense of justice.
“He’s not wrong,” Hatosy mused.
“His intention is to take out the worst of the worst.” The actor showed Reid’s dangerous ideology so convincingly that even fans were torn.
Sigan confirmed this duality was intentional. “I think Voight does not see himself as the same [as Reid], but… they both sanctioned death,” she told NBC. The parallels were deliberate, and Voight’s final exchange with Reid, moments before his death, cemented it.
“You’re worse than me,” Reid sneered with his dying breath.
Reid’s final scene on Chicago P.D. hit hard
In a poetic twist on Chicago P.D., Reid’s end didn’t come from Voight, Burgess, or even the Intelligence Unit. Instead, he was gunned down by Renny Otero, the grieving teenage son of a man Reid had ordered killed.
Voight didn’t pull the trigger. But he certainly arranged the fallout.
As ASA Chapman noted during Burgess and Ruzek’s wedding, “You gave [Renny] Reid’s location. You sanctioned Reid’s death.” The scene, which played out in Season 12 Episode 22 (“Vows”), was a masterclass in slow-burn justice.
It was a payoff for fans who had watched Reid manipulate from the shadows all season. Hatosy’s final moments onscreen were both powerful and haunting. And though Reid is gone, the ethical quagmire he left behind will likely shape Season 13.
Interestingly, this wasn’t Hatosy’s only major 2024-2025 role.
While filming Chicago P.D., he was also starring in The Pitt on Max as Dr. Jack Abbot: a war vet and physician with hidden trauma.
As Variety reported, “He’s not defined by [his amputation]… he’s the kind of guy you want to lead.” That same gravitas carried into his Chicago P.D. character, just channeled toward far darker goals.
Here are some more of Shawn Hatosy’s movies and TV shows:
- Animal Kingdom
- Southland
- Mickey 17
- ER
- Rescue: Hi-Surf
