In some exciting news, the fates of the three One Chicago shows have been set for another year. This is earlier than last year, which saw the renewals come through almost at the end of the season, with networks and production companies going down to the wire in negotiations.
Chicago Med Season 12, Chicago PD Season 14, and Chicago Fire Season 15 are all officially confirmed. We’re expecting to see them remain on Wednesday nights on NBC, as there are no signs that the viewership is being negatively affected. In fact, the three shows are among the strongest on the network still.
One Chicago Episode Counts Shouldn’t Be Affected Too Much
The previous year’s renewals went down to the wire due to budget concerns. This led to the 22-episode seasons being cut to 21 episodes, which still has plenty of time to tell a full story and isn’t the shortest a season has been in recent years.
With the earlier renewals it suggests that the episode counts are going to remain relatively the same, at around 21 episodes. Deadline points out that nobody has mentioned this, but it is easy to infer based on how the negotiations didn’t take as long this year.
Will Everyone Stay on the One Chicago Shows?
There have been some big cast changes in recent years, with the biggest arguably being the loss of Will Halstead on Chicago Med and the loss of Wallace Boden on Chicago Fire. It doesn’t look like we’ll see major changes this year, except for maybe some of the more supporting characters on the show.
However, the renewals come with contracts up for negotiation. The biggest one is S. Epatha Merkerson, who plays Sharon Goodwin on Chicago Med. She is expected to remain, but there are sure to be some negotiations involved, considering the way fans adore her character.
The One Chicago renewals help to continue a strong Dick Wolf offering on TV. FBI Season 9 is going to happen, and just recently, CIA was picked up for a second season. Now, eyes are just on what NBC will do about the Law & Order franchise.
This is where we’re concerned. Law & Order: Organized Crime hasn’t been renewed since the fifth season ended in 2025 after moving to Peacock. The viewership for the flagship series has also dropped a little this year, putting that show at risk. The one we are expecting, as long as it’s within budget, is Law & Order: SVU, but this is another costly show, and that could lead to some negotiation problems.
