CHICAGO P.D. Post-Mortem: Gwen Sigan on the Sean Twist and Upton’s Upcoming Emotional Reckoning

[Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Wednesday, December 7 episode of CHICAGO P.D., “Proof of Burden.”]

As Intelligence was closing in on Sean O’Neal (Jefferson White) on the Wednesday, December 7 episode of CHICAGO P.D., Sean’s father—after initially being deep in denial about his son’s misdeeds—took matters into his own hands…and shot Sean, and then himself.

Upton (Tracy Spiridakos) and Voight (Jason Beghe) found the two men, and initially thought it was a murder-suicide—only to realize Sean was still alive. Voight tried to call in for help, but Upton asked her boss not to. Eventually, he did, and Sean survived his injuries.

“He is going to come back—we will see Sean O’Neal again this season,” CHICAGO P.D. showrunner Gwen Sigan tells Give Me My Remote in the video below. “So [that storyline is] not completely tied up. And that, for us, was the most interesting version of this..they ended up saving the monster, the absolutely irredeemable, broken, most twisted villain that we’ve seen in a while.”

“They make the choice to save him, which is such a strong moral and ethical choice, and I think also one that our characters maybe a couple years ago wouldn’t have made,” she continues. “So definitely growth for them. But, yeah, the fallout is not going to be as pretty. This is someone who has told you he won’t change. Believes what he’s doing is right, believes what he’s doing is good.”

With Sean still out there, “it will still affect our characters moving forward, Upton especially,” Sigan previews. “The process of this case and the fact that it is over, in some sense, but…she still feels not a complete sense of closure because he’s in prison now. And because it ended with the chief losing his life; it didn’t end by any good means. We saved the girls, which was the win, but other than that, pretty dark.”

“And so she now has to go back home, and not have that adrenaline coursing anymore, not have that distraction,” she continues. “Deal with the fallout of that—and then all of the things that she’s been avoiding. Husband’s gone, partner’s gone. What does that mean for her? What is it like to be back in that house where they just got married not that long ago? And [where they] were supposed to be happy together and now he’s gone. So, she’s gonna have to now confront some things. And we’ll see that in the second half of the season.”

One thing that will remain buried, for now, is Upton’s attempt to stop Sean from getting help. “I think it’s a secret that they’re gonna keep,” Sigan says. “Not for any terrible reasons, but I think that they probably haven’t spoken about it [to] each other. And they’re not going to speak about it to the team. I think the team will all be aware, of course, that the chief has died and that Sean has lived. But that moment of ‘will we save him, will we not,’ is something that just the two of them have—and Sean has.”

Watch the video for more from Sigan…

CHICAGO P.D., Wednesdays, 10/9c, NBC

RELATED:

• CHICAGO P.D.: Gwen Sigan Teases the ‘Pressure Cooker’ Fall Finale, a Burgess-Centric 200th Episode
• CHICAGO P.D.: ‘Proof of Burden’ Photos
• CHICAGO P.D.: ‘Under the Skin’ Photos
• CHICAGO P.D.: ‘Into The Deep’ Photos
• CHICAGO P.D. Post-Mortem: LaRoyce Hawkins on Drawing on His Real History for the Emotional ‘Sympathetic Reflex’ Ending
• CHICAGO P.D.: ‘Sympathetic Reflex’ Photos
• CHICAGO P.D.’s LaRoyce Hawkins: ‘Every Empathetic Bone’ in Atwater ‘is Going to Be Tested’
• CHICAGO P.D: Jesse Lee Soffer to Direct a Season 10 Episode
• CHICAGO P.D.: Gwen Sigan Teases Diving into the Upton and Burgess Dynamics, Plus Atwater as a ‘Leader’
• CHICAGO P.D.: ‘Pink Cloud’ Photos
• CHICAGO P.D. Post-Mortem: Benjamin Levy Aguilar on Torres ‘Transformation’ Post-‘Donde Vives’
• CHICAGO P.D.: ‘Donde Vives’ Photos
• CHICAGO P.D.: Benjamin Levy Aguilar Previews Torres’ Adjustment to Intelligence and a Close-to-Home Case
• Jesse Lee Soffer and the CHICAGO P.D. Cast Bid Farewell to Jay Halstead
• CHICAGO P.D. Recap: ‘A Good Man’ Says Goodbye
• CHICAGO P.D. Gwen Sigan Previews a ‘Fully Grounded and Authentic’ Exit for Halstead
• CHICAGO P.D.: Gwen Sigan Teases Burzek in a ‘New Place,’ Finding Stability in Season 10
• CHICAGO P.D.: ‘A Good Man’ Photos
• CHICAGO P.D. Post-Mortem: Gwen Sigan and Jason Beghe on the ‘Fractures’ in Intelligence and Voight’s Decision
• CHICAGO P.D.: What You Need to Know About the Season Premiere
• CHICAGO P.D.: Marina Squerciati Teases the Theme for Season 10
• CHICAGO P.D.: Gwen Sigan Teases ‘Tension’ for Voight, Halstead, and Upton in Season 10
• CHICAGO P.D. Season 10 Premiere: ‘Let it Bleed’ Photos
• ONE CHICAGO: NBC Reveals New Posters for CHICAGO MED, CHICAGO FIRE, and CHICAGO P.D.
• CHICAGO P.D.: Jesse Lee Soffer to Exit
• CHICAGO P.D.: Benjamin Levy Aguilar Returns as a Series Regular
• CHICAGO P.D.: Patrick John Flueger and LaRoyce Hawkins Share a One-Word Tease for the Season 9 Finale Cliffhanger
• CHICAGO P.D. Post-Mortem: Patrick John Flueger and LaRoyce Hawkins on What Comes Next After That Explosive Cliffhanger
• CHICAGO P.D.: LaRoyce Hawkins Teases ‘Conflict’ Within Intelligence
• CHICAGO P.D.: Patrick John Flueger and LaRoyce Hawkins on Ruzek’s Big Gesture to Burgess
• CHICAGO P.D.: Gwen Sigan and Jason Beghe Tease the Pressure of the Op Getting to Voight and Anna
• CHICAGO P.D. Recap: Burzek Make a Big Decision About their Future
• CHICAGO P.D.: Marina Squerciati on Burzek’s Uncertain Future
• CHICAGO P.D.: Gwen Sigan Teases a Performing ‘Tour de Force’ in ‘Closer’
• CHICAGO P.D. Post-Mortem: Gwen Sigan Previews Burzek’s ‘Fragile’ Next Steps: ‘Things Will Come to a Head’
• CHICAGO P.D. Post-Mortem: LaRoyce Hawkins on Atwater and Celeste’s Confrontation
• CHICAGO P.D.: LaRoyce Hawkins Previews Atwater’s Connection with an Informant
• CHICAGO P.D.: Tracy Spiridakos and Jesse Lee Soffer on How Upstead’s Relationship with Voight Has Changed
• CHICAGO P.D.: Tracy Spiridakos and Jesse Lee Soffer Break Down Upstead’s Big Decision
• NBC Boss Teases Potential LAW & ORDER and ONE CHICAGO Crossovers
• Daily Dose of Joy: ONE CHICAGO Stars Play Trivia for Charity

Follow @GiveMeMyRemote and @marisaroffman on Twitter for the latest TV news. Connect with other TV fans on GIVE ME MY REMOTE’s official Facebook page.

And be the first to see our exclusive videos by subscribing to our YouTube channel.

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases made through links/ads placed on the site.