Chicago PD - Season 8 [UPD]
The eighth season of Chicago P.D., an American police drama television series with executive producer Dick Wolf, and producers Derek Haas, Michael Brandt, and Rick Eid. The season premiered on November 11, 2020.[1]
Chicago PD - Season 8
Filming for season 8 began October 6, 2020.[1] On September 22, 2020, Nicole Ari Parker joined the cast as Deputy Superintendent Samantha Miller.[20] In December 2020, Cleveland Berto was announced to be joining the cast as a series regular in the role of Jalen Walker. The character was later renamed Andre Cooper and Berto was only credited in three episodes as a guest star.[2]
Season 8 of Chicago P.D. originally aired on NBC from November 11, 2020 to May 26, 2021. This season consisted of 16 episodes. A larger number of episodes was planned, but they had to be cut due to the coronovirus pandemic.
In the season 8 finale of NBC's Chicago P.D., Voight (Jason Beghe) and the intelligence unit were faced with their worst nightmare: one of their own is missing and in the hands of a dangerous criminal.
Voight has been on his best behavior all season, trying to run his team mostly above board, but that was all before Kim Burgess (Marina Squerciati) was put in the worst kind of danger possible. Burgess's captor has no plans to let her live, but destiny intervenes: the real crime boss shows up and puts countless bullets into both of them.
Although Rojas struggled to assimilate during her early days with the team, by the end of the season it looked as though she was finally starting to find her place with the unit. During the season, Rojas formed a particularly strong relationship with Kevin Atwater (LaRoyce Hawkins) with many wondering whether the writers might look to pursue the dynamic further in season 8
Chicago P.D. star Jason Beghe said that following the murder of George Floyd and the nationwide Black Lives Matter movement, the NBC series will touch on issues of police brutality and racism in the upcoming season.
Beghe told the FBI actor that given the amount of time between the unintentional season 7 finale in April, the Chicago P.D. cast and writers have held conversations with each other, advisors and even police officers about how to address police brutality and racism on screen. The longer-than-expected break allowed the Chicago P.D. team to really reflect on what their mission would be for the upcoming season.
Lisseth Chavez, who played rookie officer Vanessa Rojas for one season, is not returning to the NBC police procedural. The actress will move on to The CW's superhero series, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, as a new series regular in the upcoming sixth season, it was announced Saturday during DC FanDome.
Chavez joined Chicago P.D. in season 7 as an undercover cop before she was recruited by Voight to join the team. While she had relationships with all the members of P.D., she and Atwater formed a flirtatious connection. It is unclear how her absence moving forward will be worked into the story creatively.
Chicago PD aired its current season finale on April 15, after the NBC show had to close production on the show two weeks early. However, fans of the show can take solace in the fact that the One Chicago franchise has been renewed not only for Season 8, but also for Seasons 9 and 10.
The previous six seasons of the NBC drama, which follows the Intelligence Unit of the Chicago Police Department, have all started between September 21 and 30. If Chicago PD Season 8 follows suit, and the show keeps its Wednesday night time slot, we might expect the new season to air on either September 23 or 30 at 10 p.m. ET.
Though this is bad news for fans, the show's bosses have been teasing a Season 8 that will be worth waiting for. Showrunner Rick Eid revealed to TVLine that the original Season 7 finale the show had planned "will probably get pushed to Episode 4 or 5 of next season."
Before Chicago P.D. and other Dick Wolf-produced dramas, like OneChicago's Med and Fire, Law & Order: SVU and the FBIs, resumed production on their new seasons, there was a tone meeting -- led by SVU's Ice-T -- with members of the casts and producers about how to honestly and truthfully depict a sensitive time amid a pandemic, protests against police brutality and calls for racial justice. For P.D., with the attention of cop portrayals on television higher than ever, executive producer Rick Eid vowed that those concerns will be "honestly and realistically" addressed in season 8.
As the season opens, in the aftermath of the tense police standoff in the last season finale, Atwater is targeted by a group of cops who have desires of hurting him for standing against the blue wall. "You can definitely expect him to do his best to navigate this war. It's a war going on now for Atwater's character," Hawkins teases. "If you know anything about Atwater, we're going to watch him be as courageous as possible but you can't call it courage if you aren't a little scared. The process for me has helped me to try and find those nuances that allow us to go on a very authentic journey for him. Expect Atwater to be nervous, expect Atwater to be unsure. You can expect him to unravel a little bit but you can also expect the best."
Ahead of Wednesday's return, ET sent off a few questions to Eid about how P.D. will approach telling cop stories after a summer of social unrest, why the pandemic isn't a big factor in the season and where key romantic relationships go from here.
Following a dramatic close to season 8, season 9 hopefully continues the theme of season 8 which encompassed police reform. As mentioned above, Voight really appeared to adapt reformative ideas throughout the previous season. Nevertheless, his actions during the finale raise questions about just how much his perceptions have transformed.
The COVID-19 pandemic is hitting One Chicago in the new season, but that won't keep the cops of Intelligence from doing their jobs on the streets of Chicago. Another image from the Chicago P.D. Season 8 premiere shows Atwater, Halstead, and Ruzek all masked up and ready for action. Other images show the cops in close proximity to each other without the masks, so they're seemingly not going to even try to maintain social distancing within the unit. That does make sense considering the close quarters they have to keep. Somehow I don't see CPD finding a way to keep cops six feet apart during stakeouts!
Chicago P.D. recruited Empire alum Nicole Ari Parker to play the new recurring role of Deputy Superintendent Samantha Miller, who is a big proponent of police reform and will see Voight and Intelligence as integral to her goals of making change. The question is whether Voight can change, and that's a very big question after seven seasons and counting of Voight crossing lines. Miller and Voight will evidently share at least one scene in the Season 8 premiere, and I think it's already clear that Milller isn't going to be pushed around even by Voight.
One Chicago officially returns Wednesday, September 21 on NBC. Chicago Med starts the night at 8:00 p.m. ET, followed by the season premiere of Chicago Fire at 9:00 p.m. The evening concludes with the tenth season premiere of Chicago P.D. at 10:00 p.m. ET.
The investigation they were both on was shared with Intelligence and Rojas was offered a permanent position within the unit. Fans of Chicago P.D. enjoyed the new character and there was likely more planned for Season 7 beyond the 19 episodes that aired, but with the season cut short, fans were hoping to see more of Officer Rojas and Lisseth when it came time to air Season 8.
And then Season 8 premiered ... and concluded ... and there was still no resolution to the question of what happened to Rojas. Fans of the show are still super confused about what happened to the character, and now that an entire season has aired with no answers being provided, it's starting to look like those answers may never come. 041b061a72