Chicago PD recurring guest star Esai Morales joins Titans

Chicago PD recurring player Esai Morales has joined the DC Universe series Titans to portray the villain Deathstroke in Titans season 2.

Esai Morales likely won’t be returning to One Chicago anytime soon, as the veteran actor has come aboard the DC Universe streaming series Titans.

Morales had the recurring role of Police Chief Lugo during five episodes of Chicago PD, mostly during season 4, when he was the latest administrative contact for Hank Voight (Jason Beghe).

But his character never had a significant storyline, and Lugo’s last appearance was in Chicago PD‘s fifth season premiere “Reform.” The show developed other high-ranking police officials, like Denny Woods (Mykelti Williamson) and Katherine Brennan (Anne Heche), instead.

Now Morales has stepped over to the other side of the line with his Titans role.

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For those unfamiliar with the DC Comics universe, Deathstroke is a former soldier turned into a ruthless assassin as a result of government experiments.

The character is well known from his appearances on the CW series Arrow, where he was played by Manu Bennett—first as a recurring character in season 1, then a main character during season 2, and finally as a guest star in Arrow seasons 3, 5 and 6.

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Morales’ version of Deathstroke in Titans will be the arch-nemesis of Robin (Brenton Thwaites) and his Teen Titans group of superheroes.

The role is another recurring one, but it’s not known how many episodes he’ll appear in—and it will also come with an extra cost to One Chicago fans, since Titans is exclusive to the DC Universe streaming platform.

Any Chicago PD viewer who wants to watch Titans season 2 will have to subscribe before the season premiere date (which hasn’t been announced yet). You can, however, see the show’s first trailer by clicking the video below.

Aside from this being a very interesting character choice for Morales, it’s also important if you’re a Chicago PD fan, because it all but confirms he won’t be back on the show. Lugo was pretty much forgotten about after season 4, a victim of the show bringing on other characters with similar job titles and possibly the actor’s own availability.

Morales is one of TV’s busier character actors, and has been seen regularly on NCIS: Los Angeles and How To Get Away With Murder, as well as with Jeff Hephner in NatGeo’s Mars.

But Chief Lugo was the last high-ranking person in the police department who was actually sort of sympathetic to Voight and willing to work with him. Like Commander Crowley (Barbara Eve Harris) before him, he put a human face on the usual “boss figure.”

And that’s something the show hasn’t had while it goes through characters like Woods, Brennan and Brian Kelton (John C. McGinley). Now all the bosses just feel like bad guys out to get Voight’s team. So having Esai Morales tied up with Titans means he won’t be able to take his underused Chicago PD character and perhaps give Voight the ally he deserves.

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