Chicago PD provides first look at mysterious new SVU detective

Chicago PD has given us lots of different faces in season 11. The premiere episode featured a CIT psychologist named Dr. Julian Mitchell (Jason Bowen), and the episode "Safe Harbor" featured a brief yet discomforting appearance from IU cop Danny Alvarez (EJ Bonilla). The latest episode, "The Living and the Dead", will continue this trend.

As advertised in the synopsis for the episode, "The Living and the Dead" will see Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) and the rest of the IU team up with an SVU detective to get to the bottom of a case involving a serial killer. The SVU detective is named Josephine Petrovic (Bojana Novakovic), and everything we know about her thus far suggests she may not be very trustworthy.

Josephine Petrovic is joining the team

NBC gave us the first glimpse at Petrovic via promo photos, and her appearance in the photos for the next episode, "On Paper", confirms that she will be getting a multi-part storyline. This puts her over the aforementioned, one-off characters like Mitchell and Alvarez, in terms of season 11 relevance.

Little is known about the character other than her appearance and her rank within the Chicago police department. That was the case, at least, until Jason Beghe told TV Insider that Petrovic is going to be a bit of an enigma for the rest of the IU team:

"She’s a very astute and useful a member of the team at this point to help us solve the problems, figuring out who this serial killer is. She’s a gifted profiler. "

The actress who plays Petrovic, Bojana Novakovic, has plenty of experience when it comes to procedural crime shows. She played a gritty NYPD detective on the CBS drama Instinct (2017-19), and has made guest appearances on Murder Call (1999) and McGyver (2021).

Petrovic is hiding 'secrets' and demons'

Novakovic specializes in playing characters who are mysterious to those around them, so casting her as the SVU detective who may hold the key to unlocking the IU's gnarliest case of the season is a very exciting decision.

Beghe is particularly enthused, as he feels the difference in approach will force the IU team to up their game and go to places that they usually don't, in terms of police work and analysis:

"Petrovic is extremely smart, but she has her own kind of secrets and demons that she’s dealing with. Socially, she’s somewhere a little further along on the spectrum than most."

Wherever it goes, it's bound to be interesting.