'Chicago P.D.' Pilot Episode Date and Spoilers: We 'Put the Pedal to the Metal,' Says Showrunner
The premiere of popular drama "Chicago Fire" spin-off "Chicago P.D." airs tonight on NBC. Many fans of "Chicago Fire" are eager to see how the spin-off will measure up. For spoilers from showrunner Matt Olmstead about the new show, read on.
Matt Olmstead was recently interviewed by TV Guide about what it was like creating the spin-off and what he expects for "Chicago P.D." The showrunner explains that the "Chicago Fire" creators did not always plan to make a spin off starring Voight, played by Jason Beghe.
"It's funny, if we would have started out thinking that we were going to spin off Jason Beghe's character into a show, we probably wouldn't have made him so dirty. He wouldn't have gone that far because it would have been like, 'Oh we have to protect the lead for our new show.' But we didn't know, so we just put the pedal to the metal," he told TV Guide.
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Olmstead also discussed the process of making Voight the main character of his own show.
"We knew going in that the worst thing that we can do is all of a sudden grind it in reverse and have him do a Toys for Tots fundraiser. You never really know: Is he going to pull back on somebody or is he going to shake their hand? And we've embraced it," Olmstead said.
Chicago P.D. and Chicago Fire will have some overlap and perhaps interaction between the two shows. Olmstead went on to explain how the format of the two shows will aid in their overlapping.
"Opposed to a cop show spinning off from a cop show, where how often are two cops going to interact, it's actually perfectly teed up because you have fire and paramedic first responding to an incident, then detectives would take over and investigate. Having these relationships that can bridge both shows is interesting," the showrunner said.
Chicago P.D. premieres tonight Jan 8 at 10/9c on NBC
