By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
The Windy City will be down three citizens next season: Chicago P.D. star Jon Seda is leaving the series after six seasons, while Chicago Med‘s Colin Donnell and Norma Kuhling will exit the hospital drama after this current fourth season. The departures are the result of “creative reasons related to the characters’ story evolution,” according to our sister site Deadline. (Read Donnell’s statement here.)
Seda first made his debut as Detective Antonio Dawson on the flagship show Chicago Fire. He briefly left P.D. when Antonio went to work for the State’s Attorney’s office on the ill-fated spinoff Chicago Justice for one season in 2017. Following the show’s cancellation, Antonio rejoined the Intelligence unit on P.D.
Donnell has played Dr. Connor Rhodes since Med‘s premiere, while Kuhling joined the series as Dr. Ava Bekker in the Season 2 finale.
Meanwhile, Fire fans can rest easy: The entire cast is on board for Season 8, including leading men Jesse Spencer and Taylor Kinney, who have signed new two-year deals, per Deadline.
In February, NBC handed out early renewals to Chicago Fire (for Season 8), P.D. (Season 7) and Med (Season 5). The three series currently air Wednesdays from 8-11 pm, with their season finales slated for May 22.
#OneChicago fans, hit the comments with your thoughts on the departures.
Med is getting rid of Connor and keeping Will? I’m out.
Yeah…yeah, I’m right on edge of making that choice myself. PD was never my favorite, Med started off weak, and Fire…well, they did themselves a huge favor removing the Gabby character, in my opinion. But “One Chicago” has long been filler tv that I watch when nothing else is on or seems interesting. Will’s character irritates me to the point of fast-forwarding his parts sometimes. All this considered, I may as well stop recording them.
I hate to see Dr. Rhodes leave Chicago Med but I’m very glad I won’t have to see Eva’s pouts anymore!
This is not surprising. Antonio was always pretty straight-laced and getting on Voight for crossing the line, and then suddenly he turns into a drug addict who kills someone who hurt his daughter? After he refused to kill the man who kidnapped his son years before? His character arc just does not make much sense. It’s like they were desperate for a storyline in the wake of Al’s departure.
I adore Jon Seda. He’s excellent as Antonio. He’s multifaceted and can do a range of emotions that all make sense. Kim Burgess character is also good. She’s a victim. The actress plays her superbly – just the way she’s written. She craves love and attention, but becomes tough when necessary for her job.
I love Chicago PD!!!
I’m okay with this. As long as they aren’t going to have Conner go back to Ava before he leaves. Because that ship was so terrible it pretty much ruined his character for me.
Well, this sucks! I started watching Chicago Fire and then Chicago PD solely because of Jon Seda. I sincerely hope he finds a new project that recognizes his talent and treats him accordingly. Now I have lost interest in these shows and they have lost a viewer forever.
I do not like to see the. Man Dr leaven…THE WOMAN Dr yes..she was hard to understand.
.
..
Honestly, I don’t blame the actors if they really are leaving over creative differences. Jon Seda is too good of an actor to sit on the sidelines taking orders like he has been for the last few seasons.
And TPTB have serious screwed up the Connor/Ava storyline. They took a smart, talented & powerful female character and turned her into a stereotypical “irrationally & unstable” female who gets clingy with a guy. This site even mentioned months ago that the show had a problem with what they were doing to the character. It’s disappointing at best… but mostly it’s frustrating. For a group of shows that usually does a great job of writing strong female characters, it dropped the ball here.
I agree with your comment about Jon Seda. I recently rewatched The Pacific and his acting was so superb I could not understand why CPD was not utilizing him more. I guess with the loss of Elias Koteas and now Seda, they want to make the show all about the younger actors and their romantic hook-ups and old timer Voight and his craziness. Bad idea imho. I hope to see Jon Seda soon in a project that is worthy of his skills.
Although I only occasionally watch Med, I agree that the writing for Ava has been a disaster.
DO NOT LIKE TO SEE THE DETECTIVE LEAVE. WHY?
TRULY UPSET OVER THE 2 MALE ACTORS . THE DR AND PD COP. AS FOR THE LADY DR..SHE WAS HARD TO UNDERSTAND…
THE MEDICAL AND POLICE ARE GOOD SERIES
Wow! It’s like they are completely erasing the Dawson siblings from One Chicago. They were my favorites from day one! I will now be erasing the Chicago shows from my tv choices :-(
I use to love watching CPD. It was great crime-solving stories with a little humor and touching moments too! Then a new showrunner was brought in at the start of season 5. He decided to kill a favorite character, remove all humor, start storylines that were abruptly dropped. No friendly rendezvous at Molly’s anymore; everyone is just basically miserable now. He turned Voight into a caricature (well to be honest, he was from the start), Ruzek into an arrogant as$ and Halstead into a boring Ken doll. Atwater is only called up when a blue vs. black story is needed and Burgess exists to prop up the showrunner’s new love, Upton, whom he seems to not be able to give enough screen time. He has basically forgotten Platt even exists. And now he has destroyed the OG character of Antonio Dawson and just thrown him aside. In my opinion, he has destroyed this program and my desire to continue watching. Adios
OMG, I am glad I am not the only one who can see how much Eid has destroyed this show. His asassination of the Dawson character this season has been horrible to watch. Every single episode is either someone out to get Intelligence or someone linked or related to Intelligence being crooked, murdered, tortured, it’s depressing. I don’t blame Jon Seda for bailing, I’d be surprised if he’s the only one.
So true I agree 100%! The writing has really fallen off this year on all three shows.
Well Said and I totally agree!!!
I agree with so much you have said. I have begun to hate Ruzek. Burgess is trying way too hard to fit her part, I think. But, I do still like Halstead, I just wish the writing would get better. Unfortunately they ruined Jon Seda’s character, so more power to him in finding another gig where he can thrive,
Chicago fire has a good cast. Will miss these guys but the show and remaining & new peepz will carry on.
Good luck.
I think both are huge losses. They have turned Dr. Bekkar’s character a bit obsessive about Connor so I’m not surprised she is being written out. I just hope the two aren’t leaving together. Maybe he can take that job he turned down at the end of last season or maybe he will leave with Robin. As long as Dr. Bekkar doesn’t follow him! For PD, I just hope Antonio gets a happy ending. I think he deserves it with all they put his character through!
Jon Seda leaving P.D: is so sad. Dawson should have been a bigger character than they ever gave him credit for. In the first season he started out as a main character and then they focused on Lindsay and he was tossed aside. Too bad. He’s a great actor and great on the eyes! He has always been riding the line between good and Voight. So who’s going to replace him is all I want to know. They need a name actor and fast.
They won’t replace him, like they didn’t replace Al, we will just get more of Upton. She’ll be even more sanctimonious now they don’t have Dawson to play the moral cop.
Seda’s role on P.D. has been largely non-existent ever since his return from Justice. But the worst thing about it, is when I think of the show, I can barely remember any plot besides Voight having to deal with Robert Zane and Dr. Cox.
Med also has a serious imbalance going on with all the couples living in their own drama without being there for each other as a team. Sad to see Rhodes go, not so sad for Ava. But the only characters I constantly like are the “old timers” Maggie, Sharon and Daniel.
With the way the Rhodes/Bekker story line has been going, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it ends with them both dying in some tragic way. Or maybe Rhodes will forgive her and they’ll go off into the sunset together. I’m leaning more towards the former, honestly.
As for Antonio, who knows? He had his little addiction arc earlier this season, but that seemed to get wrapped up nice and easily. Or maybe it didn’t? Maybe Hank will take down John C. McGinley and Anne Heche, but much like his takedown of that cop last season, it won’t be as clean and tidy. Maybe Antonio’s drug use and murder of his daughter kidnapper will come back and he’ll end up either in prison or retiring/fired. Or maybe he won’t be able to take down those two, and as revenge for going against them and backing the other guy, they go after the weakest link in the unit.
Honestly, I really don’t know where Chicago PD can go. The show felt like it’s been drifting aimlessly this season, and even most of last season. What more can Hank do? He seems damn near invincible, he always seems to get the big bad. It’s in a weird place right now where it’s an ensemble procedural but no one character gets used all that much, and the cases themselves are usually boring. Maybe writing off Antonio will breathe some new life into the show, seeing as even with Sophia Bush and Elias Kosteas both gone, the cast seemed too large to manage well. I doubt I’m the only one that forgets Atwater is even on the team. Same goes for Ruzek. If they didn’t give him the sleeping with another partner arc, we’d likely forget he’s on the show. Trudy serves no real purpose anymore, now that they’ve done away with the B-plot with Kim as a patrol cop. Maybe that’s something they should bring back, the patrol B-Plot. They really need something to break up the far heavier and intense A-plot. These last couple seasons have felt much longer than the first four did now that Kim is on the team.
I’m okay with the Med departures, because Connor has been obnoxious this season, and the Connor/Bekker thing has really been getting on my nerves. Wonder if they are bringing on a new surgeon.
You are making a big mistake writing out Antonio and Connor and PD and Med respectively. You will lose so many viewers. So sad!!!!
say it isn’t so !! i love dr. rhodes !! i will not miss ava at all ! 😢😢
love casey and severide !!💜💜
Would the departing actors please take Nick Gehifuss with you? He is such a waste! In real life he would have been fired a dozen times or more for the stunts he’s pulled yet he always gets by with a reprimand. I’m so sick of his outrageous, I know what’s best attitude that whenever he’s in a scene I mute the TV half the time. Get rid of him and leave Donnell alone!
Love these shows and characters so much. I’m an RN and love the scenarios that this show highlights and appreciate the storylines that showcase the many ethical dilema’s that sometimes seem to be in the gray area. It’s exciting to watch. The older medical shows weren’t as believable since the sets weren’t medically savvy. These ones are!!
I am really going to miss Antonio on PD. I stopped watching MED mostly because of the woman DR that was always fighting with Colin. So she is really no great loss. (IMO before I get jumped on) Anyway it is too bad. They need to get rid of Will also. I think he is boring as H___ .
While I understand the reasoning behind keeping viewers watching, I really hate when cast members are replaced – especially when there is a large cast that has to adjust..
I assume plots change and there may be money issues, BUT it’s always difficult to follow the story lines with new actors! Just my opinion of course..
Total mistake!!!! Don’t get rid of Antonio!!!! Keep him and put him and Britt from Chi Fire together.
I am so disappointed with this decision. Ava and Connor were the salt and pepper from Chicago Med. I will not watch this show after they leave.