Chicago PD’s Wil Traval celebrates his birthday
Chicago PD guest star Wil Traval celebrates his birthday today, so we’re looking at his Chicago PD character Sean McGrady and telling you where he is now.
Today we’re saying happy birthday to one of Chicago PD‘s best guest stars in season 5: Wil Traval, who played Sean McGrady in the episode “Fallen.”
Why are we calling out an actor who only appeared in a single One Chicago episode? Because he’s got more connections to our favorite fandom than that.
You’ll recognize him as McGrady, the sergeant who had a complicated past with Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos) before she joined the Intelligence Unit. McGrady was way more pleased to see Upton in “Fallen” than she was to work with him.
And fans eventually found out at least part of why, when he was shot just before Upton was to meet him to chase a lead on their case. But what looked like a murder was really a whole lot more than that.
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Traval didn’t have to ton of screen time in his episode, given that his character’s death was the inciting incident. But he played Sean McGrady so well in his brief appearance.
Viewers could tell there was something off about him, at the same time that he was charming and a little enigmatic—so it didn’t seem stupid that he was highly respected by his peers and that Upton had once had the same respect for him.
He left us wanting to know more about the character, even though he was quite clearly dead.
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But that’s not where Wil Traval’s ties to One Chicago end. He also technically played Colin Donnell in a recent episode of The CW‘s Arrow, when Colin’s character Tommy Merlyn apparently returned, only for audiences to find out it was just Traval’s character Christopher Chance impersonating Tommy all along. If you missed that episode, you can find out about it here.
Wil Traval also has another Chicago PD connection, as he’s about to appear in the Netflix series Messiah, opposite Barbara Eve Harris (who recurs on PD as Commander Crowley). Learn more about that upcoming project here.
Not only is Wil Traval an excellent actor in his own right, he’s more connected to One Chicago and its stars than most people realize. It’s a shame that McGrady was killed off, because it means we won’t get to see him on screen again, but maybe there can be flashbacks or he’ll turn up as part of one of the other shows someday. He’s that good of an actor that we’d be happy to have him back any time.
Next: Chicago PD season 5's best episodes, ranked
Join us in wishing Wil Traval a happy birthday in the comments! For more on other Chicago PD cast members, follow the Chicago PD category at One Chicago Center.