Chicago PD season 7 might include promotions, or it might not

Chicago PD may promote Kim Burgess, Kevin Atwater or Adam Ruzek to detective in season 7, according to new comments from showrunner Rick Eid.

Fans of Chicago PD may not realize that the Intelligence Unit’s members aren’t equal in rank, but the new season might possibly fix that.

It’s a common assumption that everyone in Intelligence is a detective, but that’s not true. Kim Burgess (Marina Squerciati), Kevin Atwater (LaRoyce Hawkins) and Adam Ruzek (Patrick John Flueger) are still officers, even though they’ve all moved upstairs.

But Chicago PD season 7 might change that—maybe.

Executive producer and showrunner Rick Eid told TVLine that Burgess, Atwater and/or Ruzek getting promoted this season was a possibility, though he stopped short of saying that it will happen, or for whom.

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“Every year, we’re talking about the detective’s exam,” he said, adding, “technically, those three are not detectives—and there’s a chance one, two or three of them will in fact become detectives.”

That’s a pretty broad statement, leaving open any combination of the three for possible promotion. And since Eid referred to it just as “a chance,” there’s also the option that nobody gets promoted by the end of the season.

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So how should Chicago PD fans take this latest tease?

Eid is right that this is something that’s been discussed before—but viewers don’t know it, because it was in a deleted scene that only was made available on the show’s YouTube channel, so it was never seen on TV.

In the scene, which you can watch below, Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) tells Atwater, Burgess and Ruzek that the detective’s exam is coming around again, and encourages them to take the test that would lead to their promotion. The talk happens just past the 0:30 mark.

It’s probably time to promote somebody. While many Chicago PD fans may not recall that the trio aren’t detectives, Atwater has been working with Intelligence since the first season (in the episode “A Beautiful Friendship”) and Ruzek was pulled directly from the Academy into the unit.

Those two have certainly paid their dues, although in the latter’s case, you could argue any chances he had of getting promoted are going to be cancelled out by winding up in custody as a murder suspect! While Ruzek will have that hanging over his head, Atwater has been a nearly model officer, and it’s hard to think of what else he could possibly do to deserve a bump up in rank.

While Burgess wasn’t officially made a member of Intelligence until the fifth season, she’s been ambitious since she was introduced. Her goal was always to make it upstairs, so it’d make perfect sense if she also sought a promotion, too. She has less tenure, so her promotion wouldn’t be the most likely, but it would mean a lot to her—it’d be recognizing that not only is she now a member of Intelligence, but she’s getting rewarded for her work there.

It would be a bit unrealistic if all three became detectives this season, but one of them should be promoted before season 7 concludes. They’ve worked toward that, and while many fans may not think that they’re not detectives, the act of promoting someone would be a significant gesture for the characters and a show that’s going through big changes this season.

For the latest Chicago PD season 7 spoilers and news, plus more on the entire series, follow the Chicago PD category at One Chicago Center.