Chicago Fire, Med and PD's episode counts for next season confirmed (but is it good news?)

There has been a lot of change in the television landscape in recent years, and 2026 has been no different, with networks looking to trim costs wherever possible in their budgets. This has included cast shakeups, episode reductions, and series regulars appearing in fewer episodes to save money and keep shows going. 

The One Chicago shows have been among those impacted by these production cost reductions, with Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, and Chicago PD, all having been impacted by cuts in recent years. We’ve seen multiple cast exits, series regulars miss several episodes each season, and the episode counts for the season orders have shrunk ever so slightly. 

Looking ahead to the 2026-27 seasons of Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, and Chicago PD, fans have been anxiously waiting to see if further cuts could be ahead as the shows head into their new seasons. There is no telling what could be coming in terms of cast shakeups or further episode reductions; there is one cut fans thankfully will not have to worry about. 

NBC will not be cutting the episode orders for the next seasons of Chicago Fire, Med, and PD

While we don’t yet know when the new seasons of Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, and Chicago PD will premiere or whether any cast shakeups could be coming, we do know that the new seasons of NBC’s One Chicago shows will consist of 21 episodes each. 

That’s right, NBC will not be reducing the episode orders for the One Chicago shows which means that Chicago Fire season 15, Chicago Med season 12, and Chicago PD season 14 will all be 21 episodes long, which is the same episode order NBC handed out to the three shows for their 2025-26 season orders. This means that while other shows might be facing episode reductions, such as CBS’s Fire Country, NCIS: Origins, NCIS: Sydney, and Matlock, the One Chicago shows will continue to produce some of the largest seasons on broadcast TV. 

It’s nice to know that we won’t see the episode counts for Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, and Chicago PD reduced for the second consecutive year. We certainly miss the days when shows like the One Chicago series would produce 24-episode seasons, and the One Chicago series are in a rare group of broadcast shows still producing episode orders over 20 episodes a season.

Now that we know the episode counts for the One Chicago shows will not be impacted, let’s hope that there won’t be other budget cuts made, such as cast changes or further episode reductions for series regulars. 

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