It seems the Intelligence Unit is about to be down an original member of the team for an extended stretch of time. In an unexpected development, original star Patrick John Flueger is exiting the One Chicago crime drama to take a leave of absence which will keep him off the show for an unspecified amount of time.
According to Deadline, who was first to report the news, Flueger is taking a leave of absence from Chicago PD to deal with a personal matter. Deadline reports that the leave of absence comes on the heels of a “difficult period personally, with an instance of alcohol use on set.”
Fleuger's exit from season 13 is being described as unexpected and the creative team behind the show are currently working on reworking scripts to write Ruzek out of the show. What is unknown at this time is how many episodes Flueger will miss as a result of the sudden leave of absence; however, it is expected that Flueger will return as Ruzek sometime later this season.
It is unclear where the show is currently at in filming on the show's current thirteenth season, with no confirmation on when Flueger's last episode will air. As such, it's expected fans will see Ruzek appear in at least a few more episodes before the character is written out of the show for an undetermined number of episodes.
This marks the latest high-profile leave of absence taken by a member of the One Chicago franchise, the first for Chicago PD.
In January 2023, Taylor Kinney took a leave of absence from Chicago Fire, which kept him away from the show for 10 months. This leave resulted in Kinney missing the last eight episodes of season 11 before returning in the season 12 premiere in the fall.
Fast-forward to 2025, it was revealed ahead of the Chicago Med season 11 premiere that original cast member Marlyne Barrett would be taking a leave from the show. The series wrote Barrett's character out of the show in the season 11 premiere with Maggie leaving town, and no return has been slated for Barrett thus far.
Chicago PD will should write Ruzek off by sending him undercover
Although it's too early to know how exactly the Chicago PD writers will write Ruzek off the show to accommodate John Patrick Flueger's leave of absence, the most effective way to write the character out for an extended stretch would be to send the character undercover.
Having Ruzek tapped to work an undercover operation would allow the show to write the character out naturally in a manner that makes sense for the show. It's not uncommon for officers to go undercover and, when they do, they often have to cut ties to their everyday life to help keep their cover from being blown.
By having Ruzek accept an undercover gig, the show could easily explain his absence in a manner that wouldn't require a lot of set up. Voight could simply explain that Ruzek was tapped to help with an undercover operation at the last minute and had to do undercover immediately. That would then allow the show to explain his departure and then keep his presence around by giving updates in the episodes after about the status of the operation through quick conversations on the show.
This storyline also seems like one that would do the least amount of potential damage to Burgess and Ruzek's relationship. While the show can certainly create some tension between the couple from Ruzek accepting an undercover role, it seems like the storyline that the pair could easily overcome as they've always been supportive of one another's careers.
We'll have to wait to see how the show writes Ruzek out and additional information is likely to become available in the weeks ahead. For now, we at One Chicago Center are hoping that this leave gives Flueger the time he needs to take care of himself and the personal matter at hand, and we look forward to welcoming Ruzek back into the mix when the time comes!