CHICAGO P.D.: Gwen Sigan Teases the ‘Very Noir’ Hour ‘Water and Honey’

October 21, 2024 by Marisa Roffman

CHICAGO P.D. — “Water and Honey” Episode 12005 — Pictured: (l-r) Patrick John Flueger as Officer Adam Ruzek, Toya Turner as Kiana Cook, Benjamin Levy Aguilar as Dante Torres — (Photo by: Elizabeth Sisson/NBC)

A rainstorm brings doom, gloom, and a complicated case on the Wednesday, October 23 episode of CHICAGO P.D., “Water and Honey.”

“I’m very proud of this episode,” CHICAGO P.D. showrunner Gwen Sigan, who also wrote the hour, tells Give Me My Remote. “This episode is something I had wanted to do for a very long time. I love water. I love shooting with water, to every crew member’s [chagrin]. I wanted to do a rain episode for a long time and this was sort of the perfect one.”

“This case, it feels really different,” she continues. “I think it feels very noir…it feels like a different tone, a different mood. And it’s a murder mystery, which we hardly ever get to do. So it’s really strange and twisty, and the team can’t really get ahead of it. And we’re a little out of control, for us, because we don’t know what’s going on for a majority of the episode. And so it has this very different feeling.”

Taking center stage in the hour are Torres (Benjamin Levy Aguilar) and Officer Kiana Cook (new series regular Toya Turner)—who assisted Ruzek (Patrick John Flueger) earlier this season in tracking down the person responsible for Martel’s death—as they try to get to the bottom of a young girl’s murder.

“Torres and Cook just hit it out of the park,” Sigan gushes. “They did so well. It’s such a fun look into who she is. I think we got to see who she is as a police officer [in ‘Blood Bleeds Blue’], but now you see who she is as a person. And I can’t say enough good things about it. I mean, this one is a testament to the crew who made it happen—this was an ambitious, ambitious episode, and they all did amazing.”

Sigan was also impressed by Turner, who was tasked with the hour—where so much falls on her character’s shoulders—so early in her run on the show.

“It was a lot of faith; a lot of faith,” she acknowledges. “I had heard how good she was on set and I saw episode 2 come in, and so there really wasn’t any doubt in my mind that she could do it. And it was just setting her up to succeed in the best way we could.”

“We put her with Torres because the story really called for it,” she continues. “A lot of the themes, and a lot of what happens throughout the story, is perfect for his character. And as soon as they had their first day together, it was very obvious, like, ‘Oh, they’ve got great chemistry. They’re gonna support each other through all of it.’”

But, the showrunner concedes with a laugh, “it is a lot to put on a new actress [to our show]. To be like, ‘Yeah, come in. You’re in every scene, and also you’re going to be soaking wet the whole time—and also you’re going to have water spraying your face the entire time.’ But she did it! She was up for anything. She did it better than I wrote it. She killed it.”

Chicago PD Chapman Voight love confession

CHICAGO P.D. — “The After” Episode 12003 — Pictured: (l-r) Jason Beghe as Sgt. Hank Voight, Sara Bues as Asa Chapman — (Photo by: Lori Allen/NBC)

Outside of ambitious episodes, the show has pulled off a couple of shockers in recent weeks—notably the romantic confession from Chapman (Sara Bues) that threw Voight (Jason Beghe) for a loop. And while viewers now know where Chapman stands, the ASA didn’t ask Voight about his feelings. So what is the sergeant feeling?

“That’s the question, right? How does he feel? We had so many conversations in the writers’ room about this,” Sigan says with a laugh. “Because it’s certainly something that we haven’t done on the show. And it’s always scary to do something you haven’t done before. But it’s also, I think, a huge evolution of his character is [him] realizing that there could be more. That’s something Olinsky said to him [during Voight’s near-death experience].”

The feelings have “been percolating for a while,” Sigan acknowledges. “Certainly on her end. I think I always felt it. I think the audience felt it. It was written to sort of be that way. And then, especially in this episode, she got to know him on a deeper level and see what he was like in the past. There is that version of him doesn’t not exist now because his wife is gone, right? He had a home life. He had somebody he really loved. I think it’s almost a surprise to her, and then it triggers more of those feelings. And so she makes this confession.”

“Certainly for us as writers, we’re like, ‘He’s not gonna see this coming,’” she continues. “I don’t think that Voight imagined it was possible and it was something to even put on the table. Like, I just don’t think he even thought about it at all. And so he’s gonna need some time to process it. He’s gonna need some time to think about what that means—or, you know, in his own Voight-like way, avoid it, and then maybe think about it again. It’ll be really fun to play it out.”

Bues will be off-screen for a bit, but the writers are “hoping we’ll get her back around [episode] 13,14.”

When the two come face-to-face again, “he will definitely be in a place where he’s missing that friendship, at least, and that camaraderie that they have, and that companionship,” Sigan teases. “Even if it’s not in his head [that they are] able to be romantic, I think it’s still very different for him.”

“She’s someone in my mind that’s so sure of herself and so sure of her feelings and is very communicative and capable of talking about that,” she continues. “And so it’s such an odd pairing to be with this man [who isn’t]. And so I’m gonna love to see how she can push him and challenge him, and what their relationship will evolve to be later on.”

Season 12 also started a long-awaited romance for Atwater (LaRoyce Hawkins), as he got very close to psychiatrist Val (Natalee Linez). When will the viewers see that budding duo next?

“We’re still figuring it out, but I loved them together,” Sigan says. “She’s a part of his story, and we’re just trying to figure out, actress-wise, when we can get her…boring [production] stuff.”

CHICAGO P.D., Wednesdays, 10/9c, NBC

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