Heading into Chicago PD season 14, we’re definitely eager to know what the writers might have planned and whether there might be any unexpected curveballs coming our way. At the moment, there is only one member of the show’s core cast whose status has been confirmed, and that’s Jason Beghe.
Beghe was one of five longtime One Chicago stars who inked new deals ahead of the summer hiatus to return for the next season, alongside Chicago Fire’s Taylor Kinney and Miranda Rae Mayo and Chicago Med’s S. Epatha Merkerson and Oliver Platt. This is great news for Chicago PD fans, as it means Intelligence’s longtime boss will remain on the show and continue to oversee the unit.
We are optimistic that the rest of the Chicago PD cast will all be back as well. There have been no hints that Patrick John Flueger, Marina Squerciati, Benjamin Levy Aguilar, Arienne Mandi, Amy Morton, or LaRoyce Hawkins are exiting the show, but as we’ve seen with the One Chicago franchise, no one is ever safe. You never know when a longtime member of a cast or a recent addition might exit the show or take a sudden leave of absence.
There is no telling who might be back for season 14 with 100% certainty outside of Beghe, but there is one character we do know with that level of certainty won’t be coming back, and that’s Bob Ruzek.
From the moment that Bob was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in season 12, we knew that his time on the show had been given an expiration date. The question was how long the Chicago PD writers would choose to draw out his battle with the disease.
Early in the season, Flueger took a leave of absence from the show, which kept Ruzek off-screen for an extended period of time through season 13. When the writers addressed his absence, they did so by revealing that Ruzek was called away after there was an emergency with his father. When Flueger did return, we learned via a conversation with Ruzek and Burgess that his father’s health had taken a turn for the worse and the doctors were not giving him too long.
It wasn’t long after that we learned Bob’s health had declined further and that he sadly passed away with his son at his bedside, bringing Jack Coleman’s time on the show to an official end. This marked the death of a key recurring character who had been on the show since the show’s second season and brought about the end of an amazing guest performer whose appearances on the show were always a highlight with Coleman’s exit.
While Bob’s memory will live on and we’re certain season 14 will see Ruzek continuing to process the death of his father, Coleman’s time on the show has come to an end as Chicago PD has never been one to bring back characters from the dead or do flashback episodes. The only way we’re likely to see Coleman again on the show is via reused footage or in photographs.
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