Chicago PD has been a somber affair throughout season 12. It's always been the most grim of the One Chicago shows, but the current season has dealt with officer deaths, near career-ending scandal and an uneasy alliance with a police chief. Levity wouldn't be such a bad idea.
Fortunately, we have a wedding to look forward to. Kim Burgess (Marina Squerciati) and Adam Ruzek (Patrick John Flueger) are engaged, and all signs point to them tying the knot before the end of the season. We've seen weddings on Chicago PD before, but Burgess and Ruzek may push the show in entirely new directions, depending on where they choose to have their ceremony.
Belize was floated as a wedding destination
Shortly after Burgess and Ruzek confirmed their engagement, their adopted daughter, Makayla (Ramona Edith Williams), suggested that they go out of the country to get married. Makayla threw Belize out as a candidate, in particular. If Chicago PD were to realize this suggestion, then it would mark one of the first times the show has ever ventured beyond the Windy City.
It would be interesting to see Chicago PD characters like Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) and Kevin Atwater (LaRoyce Hawkins) away from Chicago, and stripped of their jurisdiction. It would also open up the possibility of Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer) making a return, since he's already living out of the country.
Here's the thing: a Belize wedding would also pose lots of complications. For one, the IU would not have a means of handling a case in any traditional sense. They wouldn't have badges or guns in the event a crime is committed, and would have to rely on local police instead.
Marina Squerciati wants to maintain tonal consistency
There are some potential workarounds, but it would be a stretch to envision a storyline in which all the Chicago PD characters are allowed to help with a Belize case. Then, of course, there's the practicality of the whole thing.
Marina Squerciati talked about the budgetary restrictions that Chicago PD has to contend with, and how traveling to Belize for an episode would definitely be pushing it. "I’d love it in Belize," she stated. "Is that actually, do we have the budget? Is it possible? I think Gwen Sigan has to work on figuring out what she wants tonally."
Squerciati also noted that a Belize wedding would be different from other Chicago PD events that it would risk coming off as inconsistent with the rest of the show. "The way Halstead and Upton got married is really tonally appropriate in our show," she noted. "And I think we deserve more for that, for Burzek."
Regardless of where Burgess and Ruzek get married, we are excited to witness it.