Chicago P.D.’s season 12 finale brought Sergeant Hank Voight and his team to their breaking point — but did they win in the end?
Warning: Spoilers below from season 12, episode 22 of Chicago P.D.
During the Wednesday, May 21, finale, Voight (Jason Beghe) faced off against Deputy Chief Charlie Reid (Shawn Hatosy) one last time. After Reid disbanded the Intelligence Unit one episode prior and put Dante Torres (Benjamin Levy Aguilar) behind bars for sleeping with his CI, Voight’s unit was up against a wall.
While Voight had ASA Nina Chapman (Sara Bues) and the rest of his team in his corner, he started to pull away to take Reid down. As Voight prepared to face internal affairs for his alleged misconduct over the past few months, Reid was shot dead by drug dealer Jesus Otero’s (Juan Javier Cardenas) son, Reinerio (Jason Sanchez).
While Voight tried to stop the bleeding, Reid hinted that it was Voight who orchestrated his death to end their feud. “You’re worse than me,” Reid claimed before he died, leaving Voight and his team safe from his wrath.
The future of Intelligence, however, is still unknown considering Reinerio killing Reid came shortly after he was let out of the team’s custody on Voight’s orders. (On a happy note, Marina Squerciati’s Kim Burgess and Patrick John Flueger’s Adam Ruzek did get married before the credits rolled.)
“We didn’t get to see them actually walk back into the unit. It wasn’t just easy clean, we’re done, bow tied and they figured it all out,” showrunner Gwen Sigan exclusively told Us Weekly, teasing that season 13 will bring a “different dynamic” for the unit.
Scroll down for answers to the biggest questions ahead of season 13:
Why Did Reid Have to Die?
Sigan told Us that Reid didn’t have to die, but the writers wanted Voight to have one way to “get him off the map” which was to “take him out.”
“That was the darkest we could take him, was to basically kill someone. We wanted to test him too,” she explained. “We wanted to see, ‘Can he fight against that?’ And then obviously what you see in the finale is no, he couldn’t, he took that route.”
The showrunner noted that Voight thinks he made the “right choice” in telling Reinerio how Reid made his dad suffer before killing him earlier in the season, knowing that Reinerio would most likely seek vengeance.
Is Chapman Going to Cut Ties With Voight?
Throughout the season Chapman and Voight grew close and fans saw a glimpse at a new romance between the pair. However, during the finale, Chapman told Voight that she knew what he’d done. She knew that he used Reinerio as his own loaded gun to take down Reid and he made a deal with Silva (Randy Gonzalez) to flip on Reid and talk about his dirty policing tactics.
Chapman teared up at Burgess and Ruzek’s wedding, telling Voight that she thought there was “more” between them but now that trust is broken. Sigan, meanwhile, told Us that the attorney isn’t going to turn her back on Voight despite her own heartbreak.
“I don’t think Chapman’s gone. I think that their relationship has just changed a lot,” Sigan said. “It’ll also be interesting to see sort of the mess of that, of her still being there working. She’s not leaving Chicago, so what does that look like?”
Will the Team Question Voight’s Story?
After Reid’s death, Voight told his team that Reinerio confessed to shooting the deputy chief out of revenge for his father’s killing. Voight noted that Silva had knowledge of Reid’s illegal tactics, and he would testify to that, clearing Intelligence’s name. Burgess and Ruzek appeared to be suspicious of how neatly the case was tied up but didn’t question it in the moment.
“There was so much unease in that scene. There was a lot of doubt in a lot of their minds,” Sigan shared. “[But] do they wanna look into it? There’s not gonna be evidence [to contradict Voight’s story].”
The showrunner teased, “You could see that Burgess was feeling something isn’t quite right here. So it’s definitely an open-ended kind of thread that we can pull if we want to next season.”
What’s Next for Burgess and Ruzek?
Once Reid was gone, Burgess and Ruzek decided to move forward with their wedding. Their teammates were all in attendance, including Kevin Atwater (LaRoyce Hawkins) and Kiana Cook (Toya Turner) and their daughter. Luckily for fans, the brief happy moment won’t be a one-off.
Sigan revealed that season 13 will show more of the “wholesome” relationship between Burgess and Ruzek and their new normal. “Now that they have some sort of stability at home, what does it look like on the job?” she pondered. “What can we push them into and sort of, find stories there.” Sigan added that she’s “excited” for the married couple’s story lines, saying there’s “a lot to play” with for the pair.
