Chicago PD season 8 premiere preview: Fighting Ghosts

Preview Chicago PD season 8, episode 1.

The Chicago PD season 8 premiere will be the most talked-about of the One Chicago premieres, as the series has an awful lot to deal with before its season even starts.

Wednesday’s episode “Fighting Ghosts” has to resolve the story where Kevin Atwater (LaRoyce Hawkins) was being threatened by other officers for speaking up against police racism.

But as public opinion about law enforcement continued to change drastically over the summer, all signs point to the episode having other topics that it’s pushed to the forefront.

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With calls for police reform and defunding all over the country, Chicago PD moved to institute another reform storyline. In September, Nicole Ari Parker was cast to play Samantha Miller, a new Deputy Superintendent who pushes for reform among Chicago’s officers.

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Miller will make her first appearance in this episode, and photos show that she meets Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) rather quickly. Common sense says that the two won’t get along, as Voight is a “my way or the highway” character. Other people have tried to change him before and he’s even been in plenty of disciplinary trouble, but he’s never evolved.

So “Fighting Ghosts” will make a big statement to Chicago PD fans about what the series is going to be. Will Voight actually make any significant changes, keeping with the producers’ words about being timely and reflecting current events? Or will this be another false alarm where there’s some tension, but ultimately everything ends up staying the same, because Intelligence almost always gets their way?

There’s not necessarily a right answer here—but the show has to pick a lane.

It can have Voight continue to be the character that some fans know and love, but then it can’t claim to reflect the reality of policing anymore. Or Voight can change, and then Chicago PD will be relevant, but then it’s going to have to move away from the “by any means necessary” mantra that has driven the last seven seasons.

Aside from that discussion, the premiere will also have to address the absence of Vanessa Rojas, after Lisseth Chavez was not brought back for season 8. Chicago PD didn’t do much when Antonio Dawson (Jon Seda) left, so will it be the same for Rojas, where she gets a quick mention and is never brought up again?

Will anyone notice or care that Atwater’s partner has left him during the most trying time of his career? Is the premiere going to introduce anyone who will fill in for Rojas, since that’s the one casting tidbit we didn’t hear about this offseason? There are a lot of moving parts in the premiere and they’ve got the potential to affect the entirety of Chicago PD season 8.

Next. Will Chicago PD change to reflect current events?. dark

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