Ranking One Chicago’s new characters

How would you rate Chicago Fire, Chicago PD and Chicago Med’s new characters? We rank all of One Chicago’s arrivals this season, worst to first.

A new One Chicago season means new characters. Chicago Med, Chicago Fire and Chicago PD all introduced fresh faces this fall, and some have been better than others.

From bureaucrats looking for revenge on Chicago Fire, to new doctors joining the Emergency team on Chicago Med, there have been lots of people showing up this season. While some of them have been fantastic, others have caused plenty of trouble, and with midseason just around the corner it is time to see who’s who.

We’ve ranked the characters who’ve been introduced into the One Chicago universe this season, to see who’s a winner and who’s been a bust. The only criteria is that they must be at least recurring, with a significant amount of screen time on the show so far (sorry, Chicago Med‘s underused med students!) Find out where your favorite ranked by clicking through this slideshow.

We kick off our countdown with:

8. Jerry Gorsch

Assistant Deputy Commissioner Jerry Gorsch from Chicago Fire is at the bottom of our list, with plenty of good reason. Steven Boyer’s character was an obvious crony of newly minted Fire Commissioner Carl Grissom (Gary Cole), but even worse in the sense that he was so shameless about his scheming, like a spoiled child throwing a temper tantrum.

And even if you put aside his ulterior motives, Gorsch was terrible at his job. Even during the big crossover episode “Going To War” he just stood around in the lobby of a burning building and didn’t so much as pick up a hose to help. He was a terrible addition to the show, and we were glad to see the back of him. But considering that the whole point was that he was a thorn in the firehouse’s side, that just means Chicago Fire accomplished what it set out to do.

7. James Lanik

Also coming in near the bottom of our list is Dr. James Lanik (Nate Santana), Chicago Med‘s new chief of the Emergency Department. Brought in by Gwen Garrett after she fired Dr. Stohl just to send a message, Lanik has proved himself to be even worse than his predecessor. Lanik is not only full of himself, but he’s frustratingly self-serving—like when he was willing to let a med student hang just to save his own reputation.

Lanik’s behavior makes One Chicago fans want to apologize to Stohl. For all the terrible things we said about him, he did genuinely care about the Emergency Department and the patients in it. At least so far, that doesn’t seem to be the case with Lanik. He’s concerned with his own career and with following Garrett’s mandates to make the hospital profitable. He’s now got a rivalry going with Dr. Connor Rhodes (Colin Donnell), which we can only hope ends with Connor punching him in the face.