5 reasons we’re still missing Chicago Justice

2. Where Peter Stone could’ve gone

While the Peter Stone character will get a considerable amount of screen time as a series regular on Law & Order: SVU, it’s not the same as seeing him on Chicago Justice. On SVU he’s now part of another team’s story; on Chicago Justice, he was the driving force of the story, and deservedly so.

Stone was the kind of character that you could build a series around. He possessed everything that a main character ought to have, from a compelling individual story to characteristics that made the audience want to root for him, and a strong personality to hold the audience’s attention. Philip Winchester was perfectly cast in the role, because he had the charisma to win viewers over but also the backbone to be as tough as Stone needed to be.

That combination of actor and character was so spot on that it’s a bummer that he’s no longer front and center, simply because there was enough to be done with him that could fill a whole show.

The good news is that Stone will be able to develop further now that Winchester has been brought over to SVU, and that his story is poised to go in some very interesting directions on that series. At the same time, we’re going to miss when the stories were about him, and the stories that could have been told with him and his mentorship of Anna Valdez, his friendship with Laura Nagel, and particularly the complicated relationship he had with his boss, Mark Jefferies.