Chicago P.D. fans tuning in for the season finale noticed immediately that someone was missing.
After being featured in the previous episode, Officer Torres wasn’t on screen for the final episode of Season 10.
Benjamin Levy Aguilar plays Officer Dante Torres on the Chicago P.D. cast.
The first appearance for Torrs was during a Season 9 episode when Detective Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer) brought him on to help with an undercover case.
Torres then became a full-time member of Intelligence during Season 10, with the former chief giving Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) another body after a successful drug bust.
In a throwaway line during the season finale, Officer Kevin Atwater (LaRoyce Hawkins) told Voight that Torres was with his mother at the Mayo Clinic.
Torres’s absence foreshadows Chicago P.D. Season 11
During the new season of Chicago P.D., key characters will be absent more often.
Rather than cut the salaries the actors and actresses get paid in each episode, the Chicago P.D. cast members will each appear in fewer episodes.
This means there will frequently be throwaway lines about why characters aren’t at the precinct as Voight and the team start working on a new case.
The good news is that a fresh new season is packed with new episodes, even though it might feel different for NBC viewers.
Characters have been absent in the past on Chicago P.D.
In recent years, some of the main characters in Chicago P.D. have been gone for an episode or two, so this is something that fans might be ready for.
At one point, Detective Hailey Upton (played by Tracy Spiridakos) went to work with the FBI. The character even appeared on an episode of FBI over on NBC.
And since this is a procedural cop show, there are always good reasons why someone might not be in the office. They could be undercover, have a day off, or simply work on a different aspect of the case.
Yes, it could be frustrating to tune in for a new episode and not see a favorite character for the week, but the writers and producers have done it before.
More One Chicago news
Chicago P.D. Season 11 may get postponed at NBC. As the 2023-2024 television schedule gets closer to the beginning, details on that should become available.
During the downtime between seasons, cast members have shared their vacation photos.
And two actresses from One Chicago went swimming in the Dead Sea.
Chicago P.D. airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on NBC.