Chicago PD boss teases the addition of new IU recruit in season 11

Chicago PD wasted no time setting up the IU as an organization in flux. The season 11 premiere opened with Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) being told that he needed to find someone to fill the void left by Adam Ruzek (Patrick John Flueger) and Dante Torres (Benjamin Levy Aguilar).

Interestingly enough, the episode ended without Voight finding a replacement, but during a recent interview with TV Line, Chicago PD showrunner Gwen Sigan noted that a new recruit is the next big step for the organization:

" "I think we will... We’re pretty lean right now. We’ve got space for another, and it would be really fun to have someone new come in. It always offers up so many opportunities for our existing characters to interact with someone new so yes, I hope so.""

Chicago PD has two characters on the sidelines

It's worth noting that Ruzek and Torres are not entirely out of the picture. Ruzek was shot during the season 10 finale, and the season 11 premiere showed that he was struggling to pass the power test so he could get back to work. He's still a vital part of the show, but it's clear that he's not quite ready to put his badge back on.

Torres, meanwhile, was absent from both the season 10 finale and the season 11 premiere, but Gwen Sigan told TV Line that the fans needn't worry about the character's future. Torres will indeed be back, and is simply on furlough to help out with his mother. He will also be getting a storyline to himself at some point, in which he will go undercover with a "really fun criminal organization."

Chicago PD boss confirms Torres will return

While not technically a member of the IU, the Chicago PD season 11 premiere did introduce a new character to the show in the form of Dr. Julian Mitchell (Jason Bowen). Mitchell is the mental health clinician who bumped heads with Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos) in the premiere, and tried to take a more measured approach to criminal investigation.

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It's not been confirmed whether Mitchell will be a one-off character or a recurring presence within the show, but he got lots of screen time in the PD premiere, and his approach to policing criminals runs in direct contract to what we've seen from the IU over the past decade.

It'll be fun to see how Mitchell fits in with the rest of the cast, and how Torres will eventually contend with the fact that he's no longer the rookie within the IU.