ONE CHICAGO Crossover Post-Mortem: The CHICAGO MED, CHICAGO FIRE, and CHICAGO P.D. Showrunners Share the Fallout from ‘In The Trenches’
January 29, 2025 by Marisa Roffman
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CHICAGO FIRE — “In The Trenches: Part 1” Episode 13012/13011 — Pictured: (l-r) — (Photo by: Peter Gordon/NBC)
[Warning: This post contains spoilers for the ONE CHICAGO crossover.]
The ONE CHICAGO crossover put a number of characters through the wringer, but arguably no one endured more than CHICAGO P.D.’s Trudy Platt (Amy Morton), who was shot (multiple times!) and only survived through an experimental treatment.
Though Trudy was well enough to give Voight (Jason Beghe) key information and then encouraged her husband, CHICAGO FIRE’s Mouch (Christian Stolte), to go help with the emergency, it was also clear she would have a long recovery ahead: CHICAGO MED’s Dr. Lenox (Sarah Ramos) and Dr. Ripley (Luke Mitchell) revealed she’ll need to remain at the hospital for a week, and then undergo months of physical therapy.
“I don’t think we get to see too much of it on screen, as far as the physical impact,” CHICAGO P.D. showrunner Gwen Sigan tells Give Me My Remote of Trudy’s recovery. “But as far as it affects her job, I think it makes her even more locked in. Honestly, it makes her more grateful to be there and that [there’s] this idea of it could all be gone in a second.”
“There’s some really nice moments through the crossover that we see that even when your emotions are at like a ten, these people, these individuals, it’s still about keep working, keep going,” she continues. “That’s so much of what first responders are about. You run towards it and you keep f—ing going. And that, I think, is highlighted in the crossover. And then that’s a mindset that I think we’ll continue to see Trudy have—just lean in even more. Keep going, keep showing up like that; this is important. So we see her take a role in some of our larger storylines moving forward.”
The rest of the P.D. characters, “I think the emotional fallout is really the thing that is probably just dealt with the most,” Sigan says. (She previously teased its longer impact on Burzek, who spent the crossover separated thanks to a tunnel collapse.) “The lingering effects of it, and certainly the time that Trudy might need away from us in order to deal with [her recovery] and then coming back and all that. So I would say it’s mainly the emotional fallout that we get to see get touched on. Nothing of the case really lingers; it’s pretty tied up.”
For CHICAGO FIRE, which saw Herrmann (David Eigenberg) struggle with what he should do (stay and shadow Dermot Mulroney’s Chief Pascal to see how a leader would handle a complicated crisis) versus what he felt was right (try and save his people and the civilians), the impact of the crossover will ripple on, professionally.
“I think there’s a lot of questions about leadership going forward that are put out by this,” CHICAGO FIRE showrunner Andrea Newman explains in the video below. “Like, what do you do when you’re just boots on the ground firefighter versus when you’re the leader of the firefighters? You have to make the big decisions, how that falls on Pascal, how that falls on Herrmann and Mouch is a big one.”
Personally, there will be a “renewal of the intensity of these relationships, Kidd and Severide, and the decisions they make going forward about family,” she continues. “Mouch, he’s got a lot to figure out in terms of priorities. So there’s definitely echoes that you’ll feel throughout the rest of the season from this one.”
Though MED’s characters weren’t as involved in the emotional turmoil, “I would say that there is some fallout,” CHICAGO MED showrunner Allen MacDonald says. “I don’t want to oversell it, because we continue on our own individual storylines, but the events of the crossover are very much felt on all three shows moving forward.”
And with Mouch returning to MED later in the season, “there’s a dynamic between him and Ripley that continues into 15 from the crossover.”
As for other characters potentially crossing over the future, Newman points to Darren Barnet’s Dr. Frost as a possible fun MED-FIRE crossover.
“There’s a really funny line that Victor [Teran] wrote where Violet is talking about doctors in general, and she uses the term docsplaining: ‘They docsplained to me,’” she says. “And so seeing our medics, who, you know, have a contentious relationship sometimes with doctors, was a lot of fun with Dr. Frost. He’s a really fun new character on MED. And so seeing Dr. Frost again with our medics would be fun.”
For Sigan, she points to MED’s Dr. Archer (Steven Weber) as a potential fun fit on P.D. “Archer was one of my favorites, just because we got to use him in some fun ways in our hour,” she says. “And it was just nice to see him. I think he has a little bit of that, like, grit, that would work well on our show. He was really fun.”
“They were all great; every single one of them was great,” she continues. “We had a day where I was on set with all of the FIRE characters, and they couldn’t have been just more fun to be around and funny…And just so hard working and game. So, yeah, I would be happy to have anybody, honestly….[MED’s] Darren, we had some fun scenes with him. So that was nice. Across the board, it was just a good time.”
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- NBC Sets ONE CHICAGO Crossover Event
- CHICAGO MED Recap: Goodwin’s Stalker is Revealed
- CHICAGO FIRE: David Eigenberg Previews Herrmann and Mouch’s Officer Exams
- CHICAGO MED’s Steven Weber Teases Trouble for Goodwin: ‘People Are Gonna Lose Their S—‘
- CHICAGO FIRE: David Eigenberg Reflects on Herrmann Not Being Promoted—Yet
- CHICAGO P.D.: Benjamin Levy Aguilar Ponders the Potential Danger of Reid
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- CHICAGO FIRE: Miranda Rae Mayo on Learning More About Kidd’s Backstory and What Upcoming Storylines Have Her ‘Elated’
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- CHICAGO FIRE: Andrea Newman Teases an Unexpected Surprise for Cruz
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- CHICAGO P.D. Post-Mortem: Marina Squerciati and Gwen Sigan on Burgess’ Big Career Move
- CHICAGO FIRE: Andrea Newman Teases a ‘Roller Coaster’ for Violet and Carver
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