When we left things in Chicago PD, the Intelligence Unit was disbanded. Not only was the team disbanded, but two of its members were stripped of their badges, with Burgess and Torres both taken off the job pending investigation.
Reid might have been taken off the board in the finale indirectly at Voight’s hand, fans won’t get to see the Intelligence Unit magically restored in the season premiere. As showrunner Gwen Sigan told GeekSided, the season opens with the team still disbanded and paves the way for the show to “almost do this like reset on everybody” which allows viewers to see “them in this different light and how they each were dealing with it was really fun.”
This will entail seeing Voight back in his patrol uniform, working a very different beat without his team. It’s clear in the synopsis and promos that Voight is working hard to get his unit back. While the Intelligence Unit might start the season disbanded, it’s clear that over the course of the episode the team will be brought back together. Not only will the team be brought back together, but it seems that both Burgess and Torres will be getting their badges back!
In a pair of photos released ahead of the season premiere, we see Voight and the Intelligence Unit gathering in the team’s old stomping grounds. These photos paint a bigger picture in that we see Voight clearly handing Burgess back her badge, a moment that suggests she’s been reinstated and able to return not just to the job, but to the Intelligence Unit.
A second photo shows Torres standing alongside Burgess holding his badge, suggesting that he too has been reinstated and will be back in action as an active member of the Intelligence Unit.
The photos clearly reveal that both Torres and Burgess will be reinstated, suggesting that their suspensions are lifted and the investigations into their actions were either dismissed or their names were cleared.
What is going to be interesting is to see how exactly the pair get their badges back and how Voight manages to get his team back together. Could this moment come early in the premiere, or will it occur somewhere along the way or perhaps even at the conclusion of the episode? We’re going to have to tune in to find that out, but the one thing that seems certain is that fans won’t see the Intelligence Unit sidelined for too long!
Chicago PD season 13 premieres October 1 at 10/9c on NBC.