Chicago PD season 7: What to watch for in the new season

3) Who will get the spotlight?

With the various cast changes, the balance of characters has shifted considerably going into the new Chicago PD season. After the departure of Erin Lindsay (Sophia Bush), some fans expected that Kim Burgess (Marina Squerciati) would become the show’s female lead, and Burgess did get more character development as she moved upstairs to Intelligence full-time.

But last season felt somewhat out of whack. Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos) was the clear female lead, given that her romantic relationship with Burgess’s ex-fiance Adam Ruzek (Patrick John Flueger) was a major part of the season. For the first part of the season Kim’s biggest story was if or when she’d find out about Ruzek and Upton; the second half gave her a quick romance of her own that ended almost as fast as it started.

And Trudy Platt (Amy Morton) became a much smaller presence, sometimes appearing in only one scene during certain episodes.

Meanwhile, Kevin Atwater (LaRoyce Hawkins) still felt like he didn’t quite have a direction. He had two really great feature episodes and finally got a girlfriend—but only for one episode. Atwater is still being used primarily for storylines that involve a race or racism angle, and the show hasn’t had time to go back to the wonderful family dynamic he had with his siblings after sending them out of Chicago seasons ago.

Chicago PD needs to reorient itself now that Antonio’s gone, and find a balance between its main characters. All of them have something to offer and directions they can go, but that all starts with having opportunities. So who will be center stage this season?

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