NBC Solves Chicago PD's Serial Crime After 9 Failures
Alexandria is a British-Canadian writer with a passion for network TV.
She has a bachelor's degree in computer science from Aston University, Birmingham. After initially working as a software tester, she rekindled a passion for writing and has written for blogs and publications like Hidden Remote, Make a Living Writing, and The Daily Voice. She has interviewed various actors and showrunners, with her most memorably being Tony Shalhoub and Mark-Paul Gosselaar.
Sign in to your ScreenRant account
Warning! Spoilers ahead for Chicago PD season 14, episode 2. Chicago PD finally fixes its serial mistake after nine failed attempts. Season 10 saw the exit of Halstead, then season 11 saw Upton exit the show. Toya Turner joined the show at the beginning of season 12, setting up a promising personal arc that could create conflict for Intelligence, only for her to be written out after a year. So, when season 13 ended without a cast exit, eyes were on the summer hiatus news, ready for Chicago PD season 14.
Sure enough, NBC and the series announced that LaRoyce Hawkins would leave Chicago PD after 13 years. He was one of five remaining original characters, and many worried that his exit would follow the trend of so many others. Some characters exit without a reason or with a one-line reason that involves moving to another unit or state. Others have had storylines that haven't made sense for their characters, such as Halstead leaving to re-enlist, only to then ghost his own wife, Upton.
While Upton's exit took a season of development, even that wasn't quite the real send-off that many would have hoped for. She didn't say goodbye to her colleagues, and instead, went off to new pastures with no confirmation of direction until the 2026 three-way One Chicago crossover event. Understandably, fears were that Atwater would get something similar, especially since there was no real lead-up to the exit and that NBC hadn't learned from mistakes.
The Chicago PD season 13 premiere focused on Imani and her sister after the season 12 finale. Then focus moved onto the case, with the only time Atwater was really on-screen being to panic that Tanya had gone into labor. However, the second hour proved that there could still be a beautiful, meaningful exit.
After 9 Exits, Chicago PD Finally Has A Proper Character Send-Off
In the end, Chicago PD stopped following its own toxic traits. While the season 14 premiere didn't do much with him, except for showing that he was worried about Tanya going into labor, the second hour was fully focused on him. He didn't just take control of the case, but he finally realized everything that he wanted in his life. There was a clear, thought-out ending for Atwater, bringing his character full circle and allowing him to mature.
The start of Chicago PD season 14, episode 2 brought up the blue line storyline from season 8. Now that he had a son, Atwater wanted to provide for him and viewed a promotion as the only option. However, the black mark against his name due to standing against the blue line prevented that. After a difficult case that almost took his life, Atwater realized that promotion wasn't what he wanted after all. He needed to remain safe for his family, but he also wanted to help with the next generation of cops, which led to him taking a position as a training officer in Atlanta, Georgia.
Not only did the character get the perfect ending for his development, but Chicago PD also made sure that everyone else got to say goodbye. The ending scene in the bar with Ruzek, Burgess, and Platt gathering around and cheering him on in his new career made it clear that he is a respected and loved colleague, and it leaves the door open for a one-off return. Even Voight dropped by the send-off party after his heart-to-heart talk with one of his most veteran agents. Unfortunately, every other previous main character exit from the show either had a tragedy tied to it or barely unacknowledged.
Why LaRoyce Hawkins Is Leaving Chicago PD
While Atwater's exit breaks the mold of nine years with minimal or character-destroying reasons for exits, many want to understand why Hawkins is leaving Chicago PD. Hawkins hasn't shared a personal reason for wanting to leave the series, which suggests that this was due to budget reasons.
As the cost of production goes up, Chicago PD has constantly had to find ways to trim the budget. That has often led to some last-minute cast changes, and as Hawkins is one of the original characters, it means he would be paid more than some of the newer stars coming into the series. NBC and the show haven't stated this, but there was no tension behind the scenes, so financial motivation is the biggest reason that makes sense.
- Release Date
- January 8, 2014
- Network
- NBC
- Showrunner
- Derek Haas
- Directors
- Nick Gomez, Eriq La Salle, Carl Seaton, Fred Berner, Vincent Misiano, Bethany Rooney, Rohn Schmidt, Sanford Bookstaver, John Hyams, Nicole Rubio, Terry Miller, Takashi Doscher, Brenna Malloy, Lisa Robinson, Marc Roskin, Charles S. Carroll, David Rodriguez, Holly Dale, John Polson, Lin Oeding, Mykelti Williamson, Paul McCrane, Alik Sakharov, Charlotte Brändström
- Writers
- Craig Gore, Tim Walsh, Timothy J. Sexton, Mike Weiss, Mo Masi, Tiller Russell, Eduardo Javier Canto, Jamie Pachino, Mike Batistick, Cole Maliska, John Dove, Tiffany Bratcher, David Hoselton, Maisha Closson, Kim Rome, Katherine Visconti, Daniel Arkin, Todd Robinson, David Rambo, Denitria Harris-Lawrence, Mick Betancourt, Bryan Gracia
-
Jason Beghe
Hank Voight
-
Marina Squerciati
Kim Burgess
A spinoff of Chicago Fire, this police procedural drama follows the detectives and the uniformed patrol officers of the Chicago Police Department as they work to crack cases and put criminals behind bars.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.