The Chicago P.D. season premiere aired Wednesday night, showing Intelligence struggling to advance.
Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) was reeling from his near-death experience at the end of last season.
Voight was kidnapped and tortured, leading to a moment where he saw his former partner in the room with him.
Al Olinsky (Elias Koteas) told Voight it wasn’t his time to die, and Voight felt that meant he needed to push himself on the job.
We also met a new member of the Chicago P.D. cast.
Detective Emily Martel (played by Gotham’s Victoria Cartagena) joined the show.
But where was Officer Kim Burgess? The character played by Marina Squerciati was nowhere to be seen.
Here’s a full recap of the Chicago P.D. premiere.
What happened to Burgess on Chicago P.D.?
During an early scene of the season premiere, Officer Adam Ruzek (Patrick Flueger) updates the team on what’s happening with Burgess.
Officer Kevin Atwater (LaRoyce Hawkins) asks him where he’s coming from, and Ruzek reveals he just got off the phone with Burgess.
After some office banter, Ruzek reveals (for the viewers) that Burgess won’t be in this particular episode.
“She said the conference is good; learning a lot,” Ruzek said. “She’s disturbed by our caseload, so she’s thinking about coming back early.”
Martel says she shouldn’t, hinting it will be good for Burgess and her career to stick it out.
The conversation was quick, and Burgess isn’t mentioned for the rest of the episode. But based on how the first new episode of Chicago P.D. ended, we should see Burgess return very soon.
As a reminder, Burgess and Ruzek got engaged, so a wedding will likely happen during Chicago P.D. Season 12.
Below is a video clip from when that went down.
A reminder about the primary characters on the One Chicago shows
As a reminder, the stars of the One Chicago shows won’t appear in every episode this season. It’s a method to cut costs for the shows, so narratives will be written to explain absences from the shows.
Having Burgess at a conference is the latest example, with other examples including furloughs, visiting family, taking time off, or going through training.
Unfortunately, we won’t see every character in every episode, but at least the programs can continue pumping out many new episodes each year.
More from One Chicago
Chicago Fire has a new chief at Firehouse 51. Chief Boden (Eamonn Walker) is out, and a famous actor has taken his spot as the leader. It could take some getting used to.
Previous episodes of Chicago P.D. are streaming on Peacock. The service also provides older episodes of Med and Fire.
Chicago P.D. airs Wednesday at 10/9c on NBC.