For the first time since all the way back in May 2023, fans of NBC's One Chicago are finally just days away from brand new episodes of Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., and Chicago Med. All three shows ended with some important questions yet to be answered last season, although some cliffhangers were more life-or-death than others. Now, with Fire Season 12, P.D. Season 11, and Med Season 9 on the way in the very near future of the 2024 TV schedule, these are my Top 3 cliffhangers – one for each show – that I can't wait to see resolved ASAP.
Chicago Med: The Hospital For Sale
The biggest development from the Season 8 finale was the exit of Nick Gehlfuss, when Will Halstead left the hospital in a way that pretty much guaranteed that he could never come back as a doctor (and had me flashing back to ER from back in the day). It wasn't much of a cliffhanger, however, other than setting up the arrival of a replacement in Season 9. The bigger cliffhanger came as a result of Will sabotaging OR 2.0: Jack Dayton was ruined, and he had to sell the hospital. He broke the news to Goodwin in a pretty insensitive way as well, telling her from his hospital bed:
Listen, it's not the first fortune I lost, so I'll survive. Not sure about all of you... I have no other recourse but to sell the hospital.
Something was bound to go wrong once Med became a for-profit hospital, but going up for sale before the end of Season 8 came as a surprise! The doctors and nurses have had to deal with budget cuts and stretched resources before, but the idea of staff cuts is a little more intimidating.
Luke Mitchell joined the Season 9 cast to play Dr. Mitch Ripley, so Goodwin was able to hire somebody new rather than struggle on with the ED short of an attending. That doesn't necessarily mean that everybody else's job is safe, or that they can get back to business as usual as it was before Jack Dayton. And was that truly the end of OR 2.0 for Crockett?
Secondary cliffhanger: I also can't wait to see what happens next for Dean Archer after he ended Season 8 facing hours and hours of dialysis while waiting on a kidney transplant. Sean intended to donate, but his drug relapse meant that he wouldn't be able to for six months. Hannah was on hand as support for both Archer men, and more than six months will have passed in real life between the end of Season 8 and start of Season 9, so I'm curious to see how much has happened over the course of hiatus.
Chicago Fire: Mouch Was Shot
Chicago Fire's high-stakes storyline of the Season 11 finale involved domestic terrorism, which was both a big enough threat to end a season and an excuse to get Casey back into town with Jesse Spencer reprising his iconic role. While the heroes ultimately prevailed over the terrorists, Mouch took a bullet in the process. He was rushed to Med and treated, and all signs seemed to be that he was on the road to recovery. Then, when Herrmann was sitting at his bedside to update him on Brett adopting Julia, he noticed Mouch getting paler and discovered blood pooling from the wound in his side.
The episode switched over to Brett and Casey's final scene without revealing whether or not Mouch lived, and fans have been waiting since May to find out if he'd survive. Given that we already know Kara Killmer and Alberto Rosende are leaving in Season 12, I'm feeling good about Mouch's survival so that we won't lose a third cast member. Whether he'll be able to get back to the job is a bigger question. After all, Mouch isn't on the younger side of the Truck 81 firefighters. There's also the paramedicine program, which could be in jeopardy if Brett is leaving and Mouch is out of commission.
Secondary cliffhanger: Of the three Chicago Fire Season 11 finale cliffhangers, I haven't been particularly concerned about Casey's proposal to Brett ever since the news that Kara Killmer is leaving. That said, I do have questions about Stella and Severide. Taylor Kinney will be back in Season 12, but that doesn't mean that everything will be perfect between him and Stella. She had to go and get him, after all, and I can see that as a lingering issue. First-look images for the premiere prove that he will be back in action with Squad 3, though!
Chicago P.D.: Ruzek's Fate
Unlike Fire and Med, Chicago P.D. doesn't really have multiple cliffhangers to choose from, since the Intelligence Unit ultimately closed the case. The big unanswered question was about Adam Ruzek's fate. He was shot by young Callum Beck despite trying to talk the young boy down in a fantastic performance by Patrick John Flueger, and he was left to die by Samantha. Burgess fortunately found him in time to call an ambulance while he was still alive, but there was a whole lot of blood by the time he was rushed into surgery.
And the final credits rolled back in the spring without confirming if he lived or died. My money is on Ruzek surviving just like Burgess did after she was shot at the end of Season 8, but even the best-case scenario could involve some lingering effects. After all, the 200th episode of P.D. centered on Burgess still being haunted by being shot. Surely Ruzek can't just brush this off, even if he is back to full health, right? There's also the question of whether Burgess will keep her promise to Samantha to say that she'd shot Adam rather than Callum.
Secondary Cliffhanger: P.D. didn't close Season 10 with other urgent unanswered questions, but I do have one that developed over the long hiatus between the Season 10 finale and Season 11 premiere: how many episodes will Upton be in before Tracy Spiridakos departs as a series regular? The actress is leaving at some point in the eleventh season, and I'm certainly hoping that she stays longer than the three episodes with Jesse Lee Soffer as Halstead in Season 10, but only time will tell how much time we have left with Upton.
As for Ruzek, he doesn't appear in any of the first-look photos for the Season 11 premiere or the newest One Chicago trailer, but the new sneak peek does drop some clues about other characters:
Tune in to NBC on Wednesday, January 17 starting at 8 p.m. ET for the return of One Chicago to finally pay off on all the cliffhangers from the spring. These three will be the first of the nine Wolf Entertainment shows to return in 2024, but Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, and Law & Order: Organized Crime will all be back on January 18. The three FBI shows will be back on CBS on February 13, and the first looks at FBI: International preview the resolution of that show's explosive cliffhanger.
