Chicago PD signed off for the year on November 12 with a fall finale that was intense and kept fans on the edge of their seats from start to finish. It was an amazing fall finale; however, there was one major flaw in the episode that truly didn’t sit well with us.
The episode marked the second consecutive episode in which Patrick John Flueger’s character, Adam Ruzek, failed to appear. Typically, it’s not uncommon for an actor to miss an episode here and there, as series regulars tend to miss a handful of episodes each season due to budget constraints. However, Flueger’s absence in the episode does not appear to be connected to the standard budget workaround. Instead, it seems to be connected to the actor’s leave of absence, which was announced just weeks into the new season.
At the time, there was no real information provided on when exactly the leave of absence began or how long it would last. The only thing that was made clear was that Flueger was going to miss a handful of episodes, and the writers were working to re-write scripts to accommodate the leave.
Knowing Ruzek was not going to appear in the fall finale, the hope among fans was that the writers would address his absence in the final episode of the year. Unfortunately, that was not the case as the final episode of 2025 failed to give any update on Ruzek. Even worse, it didn’t even acknowledge his absence for a second consecutive week.
There was no quick mention of the character to explain where he was, or even just to say he was off shift for the day. The character simply was not present, and no one seemed to act as if it was unusual for Ruzek to be missing for the second episode in a row.
Given the sensitive nature of Flueger’s leave, we understand that the writers want to be delicate in addressing the character’s sudden departure. This is likely why the show opted not to comment on Ruzek’s absence in the final episodes of the year; however, not addressing his absence before the show signed off with its fall finale was a bit of a missed opportunity.
This isn’t some secondary character who recurs on the show. This is a character who has been a part of the show from the very beginning, has remained a central character on the show over the years, and is part of one of the show’s only key romantic partnerships. To simply have him disappear without any explanation or acknowledgment felt more awkward than if the show had included just a quick line from one of the characters informing the audience that Ruzek was up to something that kept him away in the episodes.
We’ve talked before about how the show has a pair of perfect storylines it can use to explain Ruzek’s sudden departure in having him either leave town to be there for his sick father, or having him go undercover. Either of these options are storylines that could be introduced without coming entirely out of nowhere, as they’re on brand for the character and the show as a police drama. Letting fans know that Ruzek had left town also makes it clear to the fans that the character will not be seen for a stretch of time, instead of leaving them to speculate about his whereabouts.
With so much going on in the final episodes of the year, we understand that the Chicago PD writers perhaps felt it was better to just ignore the absence of Ruzek. However, we wish they’d just addressed the elephant in the room rather than leaving the character in limbo until the new year.