There is a lot of ground to cover in the One Chicago crossover. Not only will the show have to thread a single story through the various areas of expertise of each show's group, but it will make to figure out ways to keep every major cast member in each show involved.
Naturally, some of the characters who appear on the individual shows will be pushed to the side to allow for more of a focus on the veterans. There are two Chicago PD characters who have played a vital role in season 12, but are confirmed to be absent during the One Chicago crossover. They are Chief Deputy Reid (Shawn Hatosy) and ADA Nina Chapman (Sara Bues).
Chief Deputy Reid And Nina Chapman will be MIA
Chapman has made a huge impression viewers and on Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) this season. She told the veteran officer that she had romantic feelings for him, then left the city for work. There's an intrigue behind her return, and what it will mean for Voight moving forward, but it's a return that will not happen until episode 15.
"She's coming back in Episode 15," PD showrunner Gwen Sigan told Screen Rant. "And then she'll be with us for a lot of the back half of the season, and we sort of pick right back up where we left off with her and Voight and see how that time apart has kind of morphed them."
The other character who has been pushed off until after the One Chicago crossover is Reid. He has positioned himself as the de facto villain of season 12, and he will continue to play a huge role in the show moving forward. He will be sidelined, however, for the entirety of the crossover event.
Both characters will return post-crossover
Sigan confirmed this during an exclusive interview with One Chicago Center. "He does not appear in the crossover, but we'll be back with him very, very quickly after the crossover," she explained. The PD showrunner also spoke on the importance of giving screen time to burgeoning PD centerpieces like Kiana Cook (Toya Turner) or Dante Torres (Benjamin Levy Aguilar).
Neither character was around for the previous crossovers, but are positioned to play huge roles in the PD series moving forward. Hence, the importance of fitting them in. "That all is sort of a jigsaw," Sigan explained. "And it naturally, I would say, sort of, it kind of balanced out as it was being broken." The PD showrunner also commended the writers for making it seem natural. "[They found a] really nice way to make sure that like certain characters, like the pairings [were] something we haven't seen before."