CHICAGO P.D. Season Finale Post-Mortem: Rick Eid on Atwater’s ‘Difficult’ Choice and What’s to Come for Upstead and Burzek

[Warning: This post contains spoilers for the CHICAGO P.D.’s season finale, “Silence of the Night.”]

On the Wednesday, April 15 makeshift season finale of CHICAGO P.D., Atwater (LaRoyce Hawkins) found him face-to-face with Officer Doyle (Michael O’Sullivan), who had previously ambushed him with violence and racist language while undercover last season…and was forced to partner up with the man.

When Doyle tried to make nice, things quickly took a turn when Doyle insisted a young black man was up to something, and followed him into a building—and wound up dead.

When questioned about what went down, Atwater wasn’t sure what to do, especially given Doyle’s deep family ties in the department. But he told the truth…and found himself surrounded by officers, silently giving him a message, at his home.

“Atwater made a courageous and difficult choice, which means there will be consequences,” CHICAGO P.D. boss Rick Eid said via email. “Courage has its cost and Atwater will have to pay up.”

Though the series had to shut its season down early due to the coronavirus, “luckily, the episodes we’d been working on prior to the shutdown will be usable next season,” Eid said.

Also not changing is Upton’s (Tracy Spiridakos) time on FBI. With her detour in New York still ongoing, she checked in with Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer) at the beginning of the P.D. finale…and he acknowledged he missed his partner.

“The Upton/Halstead arc will continue as planned,” Eid previewed. “As for Upton being in New York and working with the FBI…  I think it made them both realize how much they like working together… and spending time together.  As they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

And could Burzek be on the verge of reuniting after their own loss this year? “I think the fallout from the miscarriage is pretty much over with, but their ‘new relationship’ is just beginning,” Eid teased. “It will be different than it was, previously.  More mature, more complicated, but in the end, much stronger.” 

As for what else is ahead, “we have a lot of exciting storylines planned for season 8, starting with the fallout stemming from Atwater’s decision to tell the truth about Doyle in the season finale,” Eid said. “We’re also excited about digging deeper into Halstead and Upton’s relationship – on both a professional and romantic level.   We also have lots of interesting storylines planned for Burgess.  She had a miscarriage in season 7, but that doesn’t mean her desire to be a mother has disappeared…”