From the moment it was first reported that Patrick John Flueger would be taking a leave of absence from Chicago PD, fans have been left with quite a few questions to ponder.
When the news broke in October, details around the leave of absence were scarce, with the only real pieces of information provided being that Flueger was going to miss several episodes of season 13 due to personal reasons and that the exit was unexpected. Initial reports revealed that the writers were forced to rework scripts in order to write Flueger’s character, Adam Ruzek, out of the show. Aside from those pieces of information, no other information was provided regarding when the leave of absence would begin, how the show would write Ruzek out to accommodate the leave, or how many episodes Flueger will miss.
While it remains unclear how many episodes Flueger will miss this season and how the show is going to write Ruzek out, it does appear that Ruzek might have made his final appearance in season 13 already… at least for now.
Chicago PD season 13 episode 5 might have been Ruzek’s last episode of the season
Fans were quick to notice that Ruzek did not appear in the sixth episode of the season when it aired on Wednesday, November 5, and it seems that Ruzek will not appear in the fall finale on November 12 either. Flueger is nowhere to be seen in any of the promotional materials for the fall finale with no sign of Ruzek in the episode’s promo, images, or synopsis. This seems to suggest that Flueger’s leave of absence might have already begun and that episode 5 was his final episode on the show for the time being.
Interestingly, episode 6 did not include any mention of Ruzek, so the hope is that the Chicago PD season 13 fall finale will provide a more direct answer as to why Ruzek is not working alongside the rest of the Intelligence Unit. However, there’s always a chance that the writers could make us wait until the new year for an official explanation of where Ruzek is.
There are definitely a few viable options the writers could explore to explain Ruzek’s sudden departure from the show.
One storyline that would be fitting would be to simply explain that Ruzek has taken some time off to be with his father, whose health has been on the decline following his Alzheimer's diagnosis. This storyline hasn’t been touched on yet in season 13, but would be a perfect way for writing Ruzek out of the show in explaining that his dad’s health has gotten worse and he’s taken some time to be there for him.
Another option would be for the show to have Ruzek go undercover. The show could easily reveal via a conversation with Burgess and Voight that Ruzek was pulled into an undercover operation, and the storyline would allow for Ruzek to miss several episodes, as undercover operations often require an officer to be undercover for weeks, if not months.
The good thing with both of these storylines is that the show could then give fans occasional updates on Ruzek organically via conversations in the show, without him needing to be present. This would help keep the character present in the season, while also giving the show the space it needs to keep the character off-screen until Flueger’s leave of absence ends.
Whatever storyline the writers come up with, it’s looking likely that we’ve seen the last of Ruzek for the time being in Chicago PD season 13.