Our countdown to the returns of the One Chicago shows is quickly ticking down, and we’ve just reached another major milestone. On September 10, NBC debuted the first official promo for Chicago Med season 12, Chicago Fire season 15, and Chicago PD season 14, featuring new footage from the upcoming season premieres.
We’ve been anxiously waiting to see what the promo would tease and were so excited for its release, and perhaps that’s why we’re now left feeling surprisingly underwhelmed by the promo. Don’t get us wrong, it’s a solid promo, but it doesn’t really give us much to get hyped about and is rather thin on the actual content side. In fact, we barely even seem to scratch the surface on some of the biggest fallout moments from the season finales aside from what is given to us on the Chicago Fire front.
The promo does a solid job of hyping up the Chicago Fire season 15 premiere with shots that immediately raise our concerns for several characters. It’s Kidd who takes center stage with the only speaking part of the promo as she addresses what appears to be one of 51’s new firefighter candidates, telling him, “When it feels like life or death, it can be easy to justify stepping over other people to save yourself. But you live or die together.”
That shot of Kidd speaking to the candidate at the firehouse is the only shot from Chicago Fire we get that doesn’t seem to be from the fire that began in the season 14 finale and left the lives of nearly every member of 51 up in the air through the hiatus. Those shots are perfectly woven into the trailer, but they don’t really offer up any further context as to what is to come as the shots essentially just double down on reminding us who was caught in the crosshairs as the last season ended. There’s no particular shot that gets our heart pumping and fearing the worst for any one character, which is a bit disappointing for a franchise that is known for heart-pounding trailers.
On the Chicago Med front, there really isn’t much to get us excited about, as the show takes the back seat for the most part. We get a shot of Frost sitting with a young patient, but the scene doesn’t really give us much other than making it clear that Frost will continue to be a strong advocate for his younger patients, which is why we love him so much.
We do get a shot of a car crashing into the hospital ED, but it’s so short it’s easy for some to blink and miss it. If you do slow it down, as we did, it sadly doesn’t give any further context, as we don’t see any of the show’s core characters in the scene. In fact, we don’t see most of the returning Chicago Med cast, which feels odd. It’s particularly surprising not to get a glimpse of Goodwin given she was part of the season 11 finale’s biggest cliffhanger with her job on the line.
Finally, there is Chicago PD. We get a quick moment in which Voight seems to be giving CPR in the field as Imani watches on, hinting the pair will find themselves in more precarious situations in the season to come. We get a brief glimpse of Burgess riding shotgun in a car during a pursuit and watch as Torres gives chase to a suspect. It feels almost criminal that we see more of the show’s newer additions than those who have been a part of the show since day 1, but we’re sadly coming to expect this with how the writers have handled Ruzek, Atwater, and Platt’s storylines the last few seasons.
While we’re certainly excited for the upcoming seasons of Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, and Chicago PD, we were expecting more from the promo. A good promo should draw you in and give away just enough to leave you on the edge of your seat with thoughts and questions running through your head. Sadly, the only question we found ourselves asking after finishing this particular promo was, “That was it?”
Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, and Chicago PD return on Wednesday, October 7, on NBC!
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