CHICAGO P.D.: Patrick John Flueger Reveals the Unscripted Vote of Approval He Gave to Toya Turner’s Cook

January 22, 2025 by Marisa Roffman

CHICAGO P.D. — “Pawns” Episode 12006 — Pictured: (l-r) Patrick Flueger as Adam Ruzek, Toya Turner as Kiana Cook — (Photo by: Elizabeth Sisson/NBC)

With new CHICAGO P.D. star Toya Turner now firmly entrenched in the series (much to the delight of her co-stars and showrunner), she recently told Give Me My Remote how one co-star delivered an unscripted moment that felt like it was aimed at both her and her character, Kiana Cook.

“It literally just makes me cry,” she said at the time. “It makes me feel like I’m officially in. Like I’m officially part of it…it makes me feel home; like I’m at home and I have a family.”

And after Cook once again teamed up with Ruzek (Patrick John Flueger) in the January 8 episode, “Friends and Family”—where Ruzek made it clear how well the officer was doing in Intelligence—Flueger confirmed he was the co-star who improvised a special moment with Turner.

“It was me, and my producers and writers just love how much I ad lib—it happens a lot,” he tells GMMR with a chuckle. “Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, but they’re very patient with me.”

“There’s a part at the end where Ruzek’s asking her about her family situation, having met her mom and seeing this kind of surprising dynamic that tough, grounded Officer Cook does not wear on her sleeve whatsoever,” he continues. “You’d never guess that this is one part of her family. And, you know, just asking questions, and he says, ‘You know, you did good today. I hope you know,’ that kind of thing. [And she says] ‘I don’t know,’ and he’s like, ‘You did f—ing good, and I understand why you might worry about that, but you did.”

What Flueger added (and, ultimately, was cut) was simple, but true: “I just said to her—and actually I got a little choked up saying it because I meant it—‘You belong here,’” he recalls. “I just told her she f—-ing belongs here and she needed to know that. And I did: I meant it to both the character and to the person, one hundred percent, because Toya is wonderful in [that] episode; she’s wonderful.”

“She’s really something, man,” he continues. “I’m so excited that she’s with us; I meant what I said to her. We’ve had people come and go, a lot. And, a lot of them, I would have liked to have seen stay, but I understand in hindsight now why Toya will stay and why maybe some of them—not all of them—didn’t meet what they were looking for. She exceeds…She’s not acting. She’s just very, very good. She’s so grounded in her performance. It’s really something. And she wants to learn. Wants to show up and she wants to talk about how to move with the weapons. I’m just excited she’s there.”

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

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CHICAGO P.D.: Patrick John Flueger Reveals the Unscripted Vote of Approval He Gave to Toya Turner’s Cook

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