5 reasons to renew Chicago PD

2) Kevin Atwater

Speaking of Atwater, while the Intelligence Unit is a team, Kevin Atwater has a unique and special place in One Chicago. His character represents several different things that aren’t normally seen on TV, so if we didn’t have Chicago PD we would also lose a distinct character who can tell a lot of different stories.

As Chicago PD‘s one team member who is African-American, Atwater has come to be used as the voice of that community. He finds himself dealing with race-related issues, and speaking up about those kinds of situations, more than the African-American characters on either Chicago Fire or Chicago Med. Part of that is because police work raises those questions more than firefighting or medicine, but Atwater is still the person who’s having that discussion.

There’s a lot more to appreciate about him than that, though. Atwater is also someone who has a unique family situation, raising his two siblings. We have other characters who are single parents, like Antonio Dawson, but Atwater is important because he’s a surrogate parent and shows that unconventional family relationship and all the challenges that come with it.

He’s also the character most likely to talk about the community, and Intelligence’s relationship with it or how it plays into a case they’re investigating. These are all important talking points that need to be included, things that don’t come up on other shows, and they’re all packaged into one great character on Chicago PD.