Chicago PD questions to answer: Kevin Atwater

Chicago PD season 6 has unanswered questions, including about Kevin Atwater. Here’s what we want to know about LaRoyce Hawkins’ character.

While One Chicago fans wait for the season to resume, we’re passing the time by looking at the characters with the biggest problems to resolve—including Chicago PD‘s Kevin Atwater (LaRoyce Hawkins).

We’ll break down Atwater’s big issue below, then tell us what you think he should do in the rest of the season in the comments at the bottom of this article.

What’s the problem?

Atwater has been incredibly underused during this season, and we’re not sure what the plan for his character is going forward.

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What should he do?

Kevin Atwater’s had another rough year, but it’s also been a year where Chicago PD fans haven’t seen him very much. His screen time has been on the very low end, with only Trudy Platt (Amy Morton) appearing less often.

When Atwater does get the spotlight, it hasn’t been good; his love interest got arrested (“Black and Blue”) and he saw someone killed by uniformed officers (“Night in Chicago”). Why is it that he can’t have a storyline that ends well?

This is a writing problem, not a character problem. Atwater first has to get some different stories; he does provide the voice of African-Americans as the only main character of color, but that shouldn’t be the core issue of every Atwater-centric episode.

Once Chicago PD utilizes him a bit more broadly, then it’s just a matter of getting him more to do in each specific episode. Why not take some of that time away from who’s sleeping with who, and give it to the less used characters? Or heck, at this point, letting Atwater sleep with someone who doesn’t end up in handcuffs would also be welcome.

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What does it all mean?

Unfortunately, struggling with the best way to use Kevin Atwater is a problem that Chicago PD has had for a few seasons now. It’s not new to season 6. Everyone can agree that LaRoyce Hawkins is a talented actor and he’s phenomenal when he’s given a feature episode. It’s just thinking of new ways to use him, and new avenues for his storytelling.

Atwater is in that supporting character tier, the same way that characters like Otis (Yuri Sardarov) and Mouch (Christian Stolte) are on Chicago Fire. He’s not going to get the screen time like Hank Voight (Jason Beghe). But there’s no reason he couldn’t either.

At this point, he doesn’t even seem to have a regular partner anymore, since both of his partners have also been working with other characters. Let’s hope that there’s one more Atwater episode hiding in the final six and that it opens some more doors for him.

For the latest Chicago PD season 6 spoilers and news, plus more on the entire series, follow the Chicago PD category at One Chicago Center.