One Chicago has proven to be one of NBC's most durable brands. Three of its shows have recently hit a decade on the air, and the 2025 crossover event proves that there's more demand than ever for stories set in this world. So what happened with Chicago Justice?
The fourth installment in the One Chicago franchise was scrapped after just one season, despite having the same baseline appeal and set as its peers. It even had the benefit of a lead character who had already been established on another show: Antonio Dawson (Jon Seda).
Chicago Justice was too similar to Law & Order
Unfortunately, it did now meet the same success. NBC confirmed the show was not renewed for a second season, chairman Robert Blatt even provided context as to why. He boiled it down to being too similar to an established Dick Wolf show: Law & Order. Blatt claimed that Justice failed to set up an identity that was distinct enough from the long-running procedural.
"It just became somewhat of a real estate issue and just looking at how many of these Chicago shows we can sustain," Blatt told Deadline. "We thought they are all good but it seemed like Justice was the most conventional, it was the closest to a Law & Order show, so we thought maybe this is the one we should sacrifice."
He wasn't wrong. The original title for the One Chicago spinoff was Chicago Law, but Dick Wolf ditched the word "law" and went with "justice," fearing it would be too close to Law & Order if not.
Dick Wolf dubbed Justice the "brain" of One Chicago
It's a shame, because executive producer Dick Wolf had high hopes for the show. He even detailed the way in which Chicago Justice was the most intelligent of the franchise, noting that each show represented a different strength.
"I’ve described to other people that the four shows are a joy because it’s kind of like the human body: Fire is the crotch, PD is the muscle, Med is the heart, and this show [Justice] is the brain," he told the Observer in 2017. "They are very different shows."
In the end, Chicago Justice wasn't scrapped because it was a bad show. It was scrapped because of optics, and the fact that it was too close to another good show. It makes sense, especially given that Law & Order exists in the same universe as One Chicago. We would have liked to have seen more, but it's relative obscurity within the franchise has made it a secret handshake of shorts.
You are a true One Chicago fan if you're up on Chicago Justice.