Spoilers ahead for the winter premiere of Chicago P.D. Season 13, called "Born Screaming" and available streaming now with a Peacock subscription.
Chicago P.D. returned in the 2026 TV schedule to pick up right after the fall finale left off on a "To Be Continued" with Imani in danger in the Bell house. As showrunner/executive producer Gwen Sigan had promised, the clock was ticking for the Intelligence Unit and Voight needed all hands on deck. While Ruzek was not back in the mix to join in, Burgess did finally deliver a specific update on where he was, and the EP opened up about what's on deck for Burzek in the new year.
Voight needed to summon the rest of the team late at night, which meant calling the Burzek household and asking Burgess for her and Ruzek to meet him at the Bell house. Kim scrambled to get out of bed, but told the sergeant this about her husband: "Adam had an emergency with Bob, so he's at the facility." Finally, we had Ruzek acknowledged and his absence explained!
Ruzek has been off-camera from the action since the latter half of the fall season after actor Patrick John Flueger took a leave of absence, but the One Chicago crime drama never explained why the character was MIA. It makes sense that he was busy with his dad after Bob's health struggles last season, and nice to get a mention of Adam. When I spoke with Gwen Sigan about Chicago P.D.'s return, she said this about how the show is handling his absence in the new year:
We will certainly, like we always do, kind of establish what's going on with his character. You'll see that in the second half of the season.
Kim mentioning that he was with his dad wasn't a huge update, but it's certainly a start! The Burzek family unit was at the center of the story during the memorable third episode of Season 13, when they realized that the life they'd built might not be the best in the long term.
Contrary to earlier seasons, the couple's relationship has been solid while they face external challenges together. When I asked the executive producer about writing for the little family when they've settled into such a unit together, she said:
We have this little duo of episodes, sort of in the Burzek family, coming up. And it's been nice because I think they are settled in a way, but also to just show a little slice of life, a snapshot into what their family life looks like. Even though, yes, they're settled and they're doing well, there are these big decisions, especially with [questions of] what do we want for our child, what do we want for our future? And they're at this crossroads of needing to make some of those decisions.
Gwen Sigan went on to specifically name Episode 3, called "Canaryville," as one that she "loved." It ended with Burzek considering whether they needed to make a big change to their lives for Makayla's sake, after the dust settled on their wedding.
It remains to be seen how Burgess and Ruzek will handle those decisions as Season 13 continues, but Patrick John Flueger was back on set with his co-stars in December, and he was all smiles in a behind-the-scenes Instagram video. The showrunner went on to praise what she finds "beautiful" about the Burzek family:
I thought it was really beautiful about the community that they live in, how much they love that community, but also how it might not be the community that Makayla will connect with the most and will have the most opportunity in. And so that decision definitely comes back in the second half of the season. Will they stay in Canaryville, where they leave? Will they go to a different part of Chicago? What do they want Makayla's childhood and adolescence to look like? Some fun episodes surrounding that, and how they get to a decision.
While there seems to be some Burzek goodness on the way, the next episode will shift the focus over to Platt. Actress Amy Morton definitely seems to be in a lot more of the action than usual in the promo for next week's case. Take a look:
Tune in to NBC on Wednesday, January 14 at 10 p.m. ET for the next episode of Chicago P.D., following Chicago Fire at 9 p.m. ET and Chicago Med at 8 p.m. ET. You can also find episodes of all three One Chicago series streaming on Peacock now.
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