‘Chicago P.D.’ Boss Talks Ruzek’s Return, Voight Being Blackmailed & More

Voight (Jason Beghe) isn’t having it easy on Chicago P.D. right now. And it’s probably only going to get worse.

Going into the January 7 midseason return, Voight and Imani (Arienne Mandi) are determined to catch serial killer Bell (Barry Del Sherman), to the point that the newest member of Intelligence went to his home and found his granddaughter missing. Meanwhile, Voight’s being blackmailed about his past and told he must resign.

Below, showrunner Gwen Sigan previews the trouble ahead for Voight, what to expect when Ruzek (Patrick John Flueger) returns, a major Platt (Amy Morton) episode, and more.

We’ve seen how determined Voight and Imani are to catch Bell. How is it going to be affecting them as they try to get to the bottom of this, especially with his granddaughter missing now?

Gwen Sigan: The nice thing about once we return, the adrenaline’s still incredibly high because obviously how we’ve left it, but it really comes to a head as well between Voight and Amani because we see that those impulses that they both have, as much as Voight can recognize it in her and knows that he’s the same way, doesn’t mean he’s going to be comfortable with her using those impulses. So it really comes to a head in the next episode and we see it is sort of becoming more articulated in their relationship that as much as they are alike that might not be something that they both appreciate and want. So, yeah, it’s an adrenaline ride when we come back, but it’s also, I think, pretty emotional and you learn a lot about both of them in the return. You learn a lot about their past and sort of where those impulses come from.

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Speaking of, because you have Voight being blackmailed and it looks like Devlin (Joel Murray) is the one behind it. Can you confirm that is the case or is there something else going on there?

Yeah, I probably shouldn’t confirm anything, but it definitely is all going to come to a head when we get back in Episode 8. We learn obviously who’s blackmailing, but also why and the deeper reasons behind it. And then we also see Voight’s reaction, which is, I thought, really interesting, the way that we played it and that we wanted to use it — obviously blackmail is such a personal attack. It’s something we haven’t really seen Voight deal with too much on a personal level, something like this where it’s about his past, it’s about his family, it’s about something that we never even hear him speak about. And so we get to hear him speak about it and we get to hear him sort of define all the ways in which maybe that story is not exactly what it seems. And so it teaches you a lot about him in the process of also being this person that he needs to take down, obviously.

Yeah, because it’s his career on the line and we know what his career means to him, so how is he handling that “resign” threat?

Yeah, I think in a Voight-like way, the “resign” threat is almost secondary to the threat of someone trying to use his personal past and his father and his family against him. I think that that is the thing that is making him angrier than just the stakes of, oh, you could lose your job. I think the audacity for someone to go after him in that way and for a guy that is so kind of guarded in certain ways, he doesn’t present himself as vulnerable all the time, so for someone to be trying to use it as a weapon against him, I think that’s the thing that’s really making him go a little full-on Voight as we see once he comes back, get pretty angry.

When will we see Ruzek back on screen and will there be an explanation for where he’s been before or then? Is there something going on with his dad that we’re going to find out?

Yeah, we will have some explanation. We will touch base on it, but you just have to wait and see for all of it.

What can you say about Burgess (Marina Squerciati) and Ruzek? Because so far, they’ve been great this season, which is nice to see, but also this is a TV drama.

Totally. I loved their episode together in the beginning of this season. Episode 3, “Canaryville,” I thought was a really beautiful episode, and it gave us an insight into how their relationship is going certainly. But also, again, with our theme of roots this year, it showed us a bit of what Makayla’s life looks like, too, and sort of these big decisions that they had to make for their future and that we definitely come back to. We have a really nice Burgess episode coming up in the second half of the season where you get to learn a little bit about Burgess and her backstory and just the way that she kind of views herself and her path into policing, and we get to see how much she’s changed and also how she wants to be an effective leader and mentor to other cops.

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And through that story, we also touch a lot on what she wants from Makayla. And again, getting back to that decision of do they want to leave Canaryville? Do they want to go to a different community? And obviously with Ruzek’s father in poor health, that community and that house that he grew up in, all of that, has such weight to him. And so how do you make a decision like that? How do you know what the right decision is? We get to see them go through it together, and we also get to see the reality of when your partner’s going through something that emotionally is affecting how you’re making these decisions, which is his father being ill, how do you support that, but also push them a bit and challenge them a bit to be able to make that decision for the good of their kid. So I think it’s really emotional and we do get back into all of that. They’re still in a good place, but they’re certainly dealing with a lot, those two.

Atwater (LaRoyce Hawkins) continues to be unlucky in love earlier this season with Fox (Karen Obilom), and she had invited him to Miami. So what is on his mind when it comes to his future and a personal life and figuring all of that out?

Yeah, I loved that episode. I really liked Fox, the actress Karen, who plays her. We’ll get to see a little bit more of Atwater dealing with his romantic entanglements, but also I think what she did for him was she asked him that question of, well, what do you want? She was so clear about what she wanted. She was wanting something new. She’s going to Miami. And I think for Atwater, he’s in this really interesting place where he’s done a good job with all the people that he feels responsible for — the kids and his dad and his community and his apartment building and his team. He’s in a solid place, but what she did was say, but if you could have more, which you can have more, what would it be? So when we see him again in his next full episode, that’s the question he’s asking repeatedly is like, what do I want? What do I want? What do I want? And is Tasha Fox a piece of that? Is something outside of the job a piece of that? If he could get whatever he wanted and be selfish for once in his life, what would it look like? It’s been really fun to write his story this season. The next one is a wild ride for him.

When we talked at the beginning of the season, you had said that you had something cooking when it comes to Platt. Is there something coming up with her and what can you say?

Yeah, there’s a really beautiful episode. It will be Episode 9. And I mean, Amy was wonderful, of course, no surprise there, but it’s a really emotional one. I think we wanted to touch on a subject that we haven’t really gotten to discuss too much on the show, but it definitely affects the Chicago Police Department, but all police departments. And we found a way to tell that story within the confines of our show, write narratively within our show, and Amy just killed it. It’s a really beautiful episode. Marina is a big piece of it as well, which I always love seeing those two together on screen. And yeah, we just get to see her go through a really difficult emotional journey, but sort of come out of it on the other side as strong and as willful as Platt always is, so it’s a good one.

Chicago P.D., Midseason Return, Wednesday, January 7, 10/9c, NBC