It's been 5 years since the last One Chicago crossover event (here's why)

One Chicago does a pretty good job of being interconnected. Characters are frequently seen popping up in other shows, either to make cameos or to aid one of the other characters in a case. Heck, there are even instances in which someone from Chicago Fire (Mouch) is married to someone from Chicago PD (Trudy Platt).

Mini-crossovers, and brief cameos, are commonplace on One Chicago, the showrunners for each of the three shows have confirmed that fans will be getting more of them in 2024. The question on all of our minds, though, is: when are we getting a full-on, three-part crossover event?

One Chicago's last crossover event was 2019

It's been a long time since Chicago Med, Chicago Fire and Chicago PD got involved in the same case. It's been so long, in fact, that it hasn't even occured in this decade!

The last time all three shows were connected via one storyline was in 2019, when a rare but deadly bacteria cut through Chicago over the course of three hours.

Related: How long will One Chicago shows be on break?

The episodes in question, "Bacteria" Parts I, II, and III, preceded the COVID-19 pandemic, which is ironic given that the pandemic has been largely to blame for the lack of crossovers in recent years.

Crossover plans were scrapped in 2022

There were loose plans to stage a three-part crossover in 2022, but the difficulty of scheduling all three shows while maintaining safety protocols made it near impossible.

In November 2022, former Chicago Fire showrunner Derek Haas told TV Insider that a crossover was imminent, and that producer Dick Wolf was the driving force behind it:

"If Dick Wolf has his way, the chances are 100 percent, but we haven’t actually [solved] the medical restrictions that we need to have that many cast members interacting."

The medical restrictions eased up entering the winter of 2023, but another setback surfaced in the form of the Hollywood strikes. Writers and actors refused to work on scripted TV shows until studios improved their working conditions, which led to the One Chicago franchise being delayed by several months.

There are no crossover plans in 2024

All three shows were forced to go into production with less pre-production time than usual, as well as a shorter episode count (13 as opposed to 18-20). The writers and showrunners haven't had enough time to orchestrate a multi-part crossover, especially given that the shows are still being worked on as we speak.

So while it would be nice to get a crossover event soon, the restrictions of the current seasons lead us to believe that we won't be getting one until 2025.