Productions halts on One Chicago dramas, fellow Dick Wolf series

NBCUniversal and CBS TV Studios have announced production will be halted on several Dick Wolf dramas including the One Chicago dramas.

As a precautionary measure, NBCUniversal has announced plans to stop production on several of its current series including Dick Wolf’s One Chicago staple of Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, and Chicago PD. The news — first broke by Deadline — comes as networks and studios continue to address the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, aiming to take precautions in considering the wellbeing of its casts and crews.

In addition to production halting on NBC’s One Chicago dramas, NBC has also placed production on the current season of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit on hold as well as several other NBCUniversal produced series. Meanwhile, TVLine reports production on CBS’ Dick Wolf produced FBI has also been halted as part of a decision made by CBS Television Studios to pause production on many of its programs.

"“The safety and health of our cast, crew and employees is our top priority.,” NBCUniversal said in a statement released Thursday night as shared via Deadline’s report. “Where possible, we are pausing production for two weeks as a precautionary measure, following which we will reassess and determine an appropriate start date. In some cases, we are accelerating plans to wrap up physical production.”"

As of press time, Deadline’s initial report notes NBCUniversal and CBS Television Studios are currently not expected to resume production on many of their current dramas. Should this indeed be the case, the current seasons of Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, Chicago PD, Law & Order: SVU and FBI will end 1-2 episodes shy of their original season orders.

Only time will tell how the creative teams behind the series will address the change or what effect it might have on the season finales of the series. Should the current seasons indeed wrap their seasons without filming the final episodes of their season orders, there is a chance the seasons might end without major cliffhangers or leave the writers to resolve certain storylines at the top of next season.

As previously reported, Dick Wolf’s entire One Chicago franchise have all been renewed through the 2022-23 season as has fellow drama Law & Order: SVU. 

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