It’s been a year since Chicago Justice ended, so we’re updating you on where all the show’s stars have gone since the Chicago Justice season 1 finale.
It was a year ago today that the Chicago Justice season finale aired, wrapping up the adventures of the team at the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office—an ending that One Chicago fans later learned was for good.
Just a few weeks later NBC canceled Chicago Justice after one season despite the show’s solid ratings, saying it was because they did not have enough room on the network schedule following the renewal of several of the channel’s on the bubble series. The decision was a disappointing end to a series that was written off too soon, and made Justice the first One Chicago show not to get a second season order.
But the silver lining for One Chicago viewers is that the cast of Chicago Justice has been working since the end of the series. Their hard work and genuine talent hasn’t gone unrecognized elsewhere in TV land. All of them have gone on to other projects, and some of them have gotten up to some pretty amazing things! So on the anniversary of their last episode together, we’re catching you up with our favorite TV lawyers and investigators by telling you what they’ve been up to since they split apart.
Click through the below slideshow to find out where the Chicago Justice cast is now and how you can catch up with their current projects. And if you’re feeling nostalgic, check out our 5 reasons to give Chicago Justice a second watch with the complete series now available on both iTunes and DVD.
Philip Winchester
As Assistant State’s Attorney Peter Stone, Philip Winchester led Chicago Justice with his screen presence and his character’s hard-charging commitment to the people of Chicago at any possible cost. There was nothing Peter Stone wouldn’t do to ensure justice was done, and no one he was harder on than himself.
Peter made his fair share of enemies throughout Chicago Justice season 1, whether it was finding out an old nemesis had come back into the picture, matching wits with a new bad guy across the courtroom, or finding a way to frustrate every single person he worked with at least once through those 13 episodes.
But that’s because he didn’t compromise his principles, and wasn’t afraid of conflict. Given his strong personality, it’s no wonder that he lived on past the end of the show and became one of three main cast members to continue with their character.
Following NBC’s cancellation of Chicago Justice, Philip Winchester was recruited to reprise his role of Peter Stone in Dick Wolf‘s other series, Law & Order: SVU. Though he was originally promoted as being a recurring guest star, it was revealed at the conclusion of Philip’s first episode that he was actually replacing Raul Esparza as SVU‘s Assistant District Attorney!
Winchester joined the cast of SVU as a series regular, and will continue playing Peter Stone as a main cast member next fall, as NBC renewed Law & Order: SVU for season 20 last week. That means he’s played the character across three shows: his original appearance on Chicago PD, one season of Justice, and now SVU.
Monica Barbaro
Though Chicago Justice was only Monica Barbaro‘s second time being a series regular, it was a breakout role for her—as since portraying Assistant State’s Attorney Anna Valdez, she’s been one of the busiest Chicago Justice cast members.
Monica was one of two actors added to the cast of Justice after the show’s backdoor pilot, when she replaced Nazneen Contractor as the junior prosecutor on the series. Her character Anna was an energetic and also outspoken prosecutor, who made up for her relative lack of experience with her toughness. Having been personally recruited by Peter Stone after he was impressed with her work elsewhere, she became his second chair and the two made a dynamic duo.
Following the end of Chicago Justice, Monica has had the best of both worlds as she’s both been able to stay in the One Chicago world while also pursuing other career opportunities. She was a guest star in two Chicago PD episodes, reprising her role as Anna Valdez and giving some legal advice to the Intelligence Unit.
But she’ll also appear as the female lead in the upcoming Netflix original series The Good Cop, as an NYPD detective opposite Josh Groban and Tony Danza. In addition to that series regular part, she’s appeared in guest spots on FOX’s Lethal Weapon and most recently, multiple episodes of the ABC sitcom Splitting Up Together. From comedy to drama, she’s gotten to do a little bit of everything while also keeping Anna Valdez alive in the hearts and minds of One Chicago fans.
Carl Weathers
The biggest name in the Chicago Justice cast was acting legend Carl Weathers, who ruled over the entire Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office as State’s Attorney Mark Jefferies. And just like the actor, his character cast a long shadow.
Jefferies had risen to the top position in the State’s Attorney’s Office through a lot of hard work, but he also had his sights on climbing even higher in politics, and there were more than a few times where his political motivations or his perspective of looking at the political and social picture influenced his decision-making (much to the consternation of Peter Stone).
Jefferies stood by his team on almost every occasion, though, including in the series finale “Tycoon” when they were able to convict city construction mogul Frank Linden for murder.
Carl Weathers played Mark Jefferies in an episode of Chicago PD last season, but he hasn’t been seen around the One Chicago universe this season. He has, however, lent his voice to the quirky animated series Explosion Jones on the streaming service go90. As you can guess from the title, it’s an action-packed project that has its tongue planted firmly in cheek, and it’ll give everyone a laugh from the way it sends up 80’s action films.
That’s the biggest piece of news for Weathers thus far, but given his gravitas and talent, it’s likely only a matter of time until he turns up someplace else. Maybe the State’s Attorney can show up and check in on his former investigator Antonio Dawson?
Joelle Carter
Portraying State’s Investigator Laura Nagel, Joelle Carter brought both toughness and a degree of vulnerability to Chicago Justice. The former Justified star had the biggest task in front of her, too, as Nagel went through the most transformation between Justice’s backdoor pilot and the show making it to series.
When One Chicago fans first met Laura Nagel in the original pilot, she was the lead investigator working with a rookie partner, played by Ryan-James Hatanaka. However, part of the change that happened when Hatanaka was dropped from the ensemble and producers brought Jon Seda over from Chicago PD was that Antonio Dawson became the new lead investigator. So Laura not only had to work with a new partner, she wound up taking a demotion.
That became a through-line for Joelle Carter’s character in Chicago Justice season 1. The in-show explanation for her being the junior investigator was an addiction problem that was caused by her being shot in the line of duty, and that was something Nagel hated herself for and thought had possibly ruined her career for good. One of the unresolved threads from the show was Laura being able to regain her confidence and sort out her personal demons.
Though Joelle Carter gave a fantastic performance going through all of that, things have been a bit quiet for her since the conclusion of Chicago Justice. The good news is that she booked a series regular role in the ABC pilot Salvage (alongside Philip Winchester’s former The Player co-star Charity Wakefield!), but the bad news is it ABC passed on the series when it announced its fall schedule on Tuesday.
Jon Seda
Every One Chicago fan knows where Jon Seda is now—he turned right back around and took his Antonio Dawson character back to Chicago PD! According to our interview with Seda at the start of this season, it was always the plan for him to bring Antonio back to Intelligence if Justice was not renewed for a second season.
Since coming back from his role as the lead investigator at the State’s Attorney’s Office, Antonio hasn’t had many opportunities to utilize his additional experience in any of his Intelligence Unit cases. He’s made a few comments about his old job, all of them generally critical such as saying in “Promise” that his former supervisor was “afraid to get involved” in a case. So it doesn’t sound like he left the State’s Attorney’s team on great terms.
But you could also say that about his current spot on the Intelligence squad, too. Antonio wound up on the other side of Voight, whether it was being pressured to cooperate with Denny Woods’ investigation (he declined) or in last week’s season finale, having to testify in front of the Chicago Police Department board as to whether or not Voight had murdered the man who ordered the hit on Alvin Olinsky.
We’ll have to see if tension between Antonio and Voight carries over into Chicago PD season 6, as the series was renewed for next fall. But whatever happens and whatever show he’s on, Seda is a fan favorite in the One Chicago fandom and he won’t be going anywhere.
Next: 5 life lessons we learned from Chicago Justice
To keep up with everything that the Chicago Justice cast is up to now and in the future, follow the Chicago Justice category at One Chicago Center.