SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for Chicago PD Season 14, Episode 1.
The Chicago PD Season 14 premiere was the beginning of an end for a few characters. “Demolition” saw Eva Imani’s storyline conclude (for now?) as Shari cut off contact with her sister. Elsewhere, the arrival of Kevin Atwater’s baby was clear foreshadowing for his departure from the Intelligence Unit later this season. So what comes next for these two characters—and the team?
Chicago PD executive producer Gwen Sigan stopped by to discuss moving Imani past her family storyline and what she’ll focus on next. Plus, she talked about the challenge of saying goodbye to original cast member LaRoyce Hawkins as he leaves the NBC series. And how seriously should One Chicago fans take this FBI threat compared to everyone else who’s ever tried to challenge Intelligence?
Brittany Frederick: The end of the Chicago PD Season 14 premiere puts an end to the Imani and Shari storyline that was pretty much her entire arc last season. Now that’s done, and you’re also in your second season writing forArienne Mandi, how do you expand the character of Imani? Is there anything you’re excited to try for her?
Gwen Sigan: So much. So much, because as you’re saying, that is what we focused on, And so we are so excited to see, who is she without that? She as a person is so direct and so self-aware, and I think she knows I don’t want to just go home and be heartbroken every single night, and be thinking about my sister and thinking about how my sister doesn’t want me, and fuck that, I’m not doing it.
So we see her trying to actively fill this void that she has, and actively sort of search for what feels good, what’s going to be a distraction, what can I sort of escape into? It’s very revealing of who this person is and what she’s seeking and what she wants—and different parts of answering questions about herself I don’t think she’s even answered because she’s been so dead set and focused on [Shari]. So it’s a fun journey. It goes in all sorts of places this year and is definitely a season long arc for her of what is my identity without my sister? How can I reinvent and find some level of happiness and motivation and like movement so that when my sister gets out, which she eventually will, I will be ready and I will be the best sister I can be, and I can be there and be a little more whole.
The audience already knows that LaRoyce Hawkins is leaving at some point this season, and the premiere teased that with the arrival of his new baby. But what is it like for you to say goodbye to LaRoyce after so many years, and how do you find an exit storyline that does Atwater justice?
Sigan: Our goal was certainly let’s find the best way to do so—the most organic way that feels natural to his character, that doesn’t feel like it comes out of left field. Hopefully, that feels like we can use the things that we’ve already set up and make it a pivotal thing for him and make it a positive thing for him.—like he’s authoring it, and he’s making a choice.
And we wanted it to just be the best sendoff we could give him, that stays true to who he is and who he’s been for the show and for the unit and for all of the things that we know. I think we’ve done that. I hope we’ve done that. We definitely put a lot of care into it. I hope that reads on the screen. And I thought LaRoyce just killed it in the episode. So hopefully, it’s a great sendoff. That’s what we wanted.
Does that include some scenes between Atwater and Kim Burgess before he goes? Because their friendship hasn’t gotten as much screen time as it used to in earlier Chicago PD seasons.
Absolutely. She’s definitely a part of it. We definitely see a lot of moments between them, and that kinship, that relationship that’s been there since day one. These two have been so close, and so yes, we do get to see the pair of them together.
But as he’s leaving, you saddle Intelligence with this FBI agent who’s tasked with evaluating them. What makes Charlie’s arrival different from Denny and Reid and all the other people who have tried to criticize or change the unit?
I think that is something every season—how can we be different? How can we be fresh with it? The idea that was so interesting is somebody actually making a home upstairs with [them]. We’ve never seen that. We’ve never seen somebody be up in the bullpen and just being there, fly on the wall, to hear conversations that are up there. [Charlie] can look at every single file. Once he starts looking at files, he’s going to get more interested, and then he can come to cases with us. He’s somebody that has more access than we’ve definitely ever seen.
Because of that he, for Voight, poses a threat unlike anything else he’s seen. And for the unit, it’s how do we how do we navigate doing our jobs when this space no longer feels confidential? This space no longer feels safe, so how do we navigate that? And then the other piece that we thought would be really unique and that we wanted to exploit as much as we could was that Charlie is incredibly hard to make out. The men and the women that have come before him and sort of infiltrated the unit and looked at the unit, he doesn’t present like them, and so for Voight, it’s almost disarming. It’s who is this man? I don’t understand this man. I don’t understand necessarily how his mind works. I don’t understand his motivations.
Charlie can come off as incredibly charming. He can come off as incredibly socially unaware. He’s definitely a bit awkward. He’s got a sense of humor. He’s earnest. All of these things that for Voight, he’s like I don’t really know how to navigate it and how to keep this man at arm’s length… We wanted it to be a dance between these two people that felt different. And also I think it’s very revealing for Voight as to where he’s at as a police officer, as a leader in the unit. This overarching theme—the season of reinvention—Charlie really is pulling that out of Voight.
That story, and even moreso the premiere’s case of the week with the parole officer, return to Chicago PD‘s willingness to talk a lot about dark areas in law enforcement. How do you tell those negative stories, and yet keep fans believing in our unit and in the department they represent?
We’ve always looked at the show as we’re going to try to be as realistic as we can. These are very flawed characters working in a flawed system, and we want to explore that. And so they don’t always make the most perfect decision. The people around them do not make the most perfect decision, and the system is not always perfect.
It allows for a lot of gray, and you just have to be aware… At some points you do want to see the good, because there is good, but you also want to see the other side of it so we try to keep it balanced. We try to keep it as realistic as we can without it just feeling aspirational, like a police department that maybe does not exist in the world.
You do also occasionally sneak some humor in there, like the bickering between Voight and Trudy Platt over the crowded office space. Will the show have more of that in Season 14?
Yes, and I think that’s a nice thing about Charlie. Because he’s so different than everybody. It does bring out a little more of that humor, a little more of like, who is this guy? What is he talking about? And of course, Platt always brings it. So yes, we have a little bit more moving forward of wanting to show a little bit of the lightness that also exists.
Is there anything else in Chicago PD Season 14 that you’re particularly excited for One Chicago fans to see? What should they be looking out for in the rest of the season?
I’m excited about so much. I’ve been having so much fun writing the Charlie and Voight dynamic. The actor that is playing Charlie [Kyle Selig] has just been so wonderful and always is adding new things, so you just get more and more excited to write for them.
And then I’m really excited about the Burgess-Ruzek storyline this year. They’ve moved; they’re in that new house, and we found a way to sort of make that house a character this year. It just goes in all these weird, twisty places that I love.
The Torres-Imani relationship’s been very fun, because they’re getting closer. Their friendship is sort of developing and deepening. They’re such different people, yet they have a lot of similarity that makes them really, I think, compatible as partners in the job and also as friends. And it’s just very revealing about the pair of them. So that’s been very fun to write as well.
Chicago PD airs Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. Photo Credit: Courtesy of NBC.
