Chicago Fire Season 12 & Other One Chicago Shows Get Premiere Date By NBC
The "One Chicago" franchise is all set to return to television after delays due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. News outlets like Deadline reported that the Windy City-based shows will return in January 2024. Specifically, they'll all be back on Wednesday, January 17, kicking off with the premiere of Season 9 of "Chicago Med" at 8 PM EST. After that, "Chicago Fire" returns for Season 12, and "Chicago P.D." will close out the night with its 11th season debut.
Now that the lengthy double strike between the WGA and SAG-AFTRA seems to have ended — the actors' guild is still finalizing their historic deal with the studios — shows are starting to announce when they'll return to the airwaves. As Deadline points out, this is a quick turnaround for the "One Chicago" franchise, which can provide brand-new scripts in two months or less.
"Building off the momentum of a strong fall, we're entering midseason with a powerhouse schedule that leans into the strength of both beloved titles and new shows while also growing our audience across NBC and Peacock," Frances Berwick, the chairman of NBCUniversal Entertainment, said in a statement. Among other major NBC titles, she specifically mentioned the "One Chicago" shows.
The One Chicago franchise is another jewel in Dick Wolf's crown
With fans of the "One Chicago" ready for the new seasons of their shows, this development is pretty exciting, especially after they were left hanging due to the strikes. Due to concerns over streaming residuals and the advent of artificial intelligence — amongst other issues — pretty much every major show had its premiere delayed, and "One Chicago" fans will be able to settle in for new episodes of "Chicago Med," "Chicago P.D.," and "Chicago Fire" right after the start of the New Year.
The shows are all, quite obviously, set in Chicago and in specific (fictional) hospitals, fire departments, and police precincts, and just like Dick Wolf's "Law & Order" franchise, the shows frequently experience crossovers. (In fact, the first episodes of both "Chicago P.D." and "Chicago Med" were backdoor pilots initially.) The one big thing that ties the shows together, though, is Molly's, a bar where doctors, nurses, firefighters, and cops frequently gather. In 2015, former "Chicago Fire" showrunner Matt Olmstead expressed the importance of Molly's to The Hollywood Reporter. "We always keep an eye on that in the room on all the shows: how can we find storylines that bring together characters that normally don't hang out? That's what gave us Molly's," he explained.
Before the "One Chicago" franchise makes its emphatic return next year, fans can go back and stream all their favorite episodes on Peacock.