Chicago P.D. is shining the spotlight on Atwater in the upcoming episode, with the Intelligence Unit facing a series of jewelry store robberies. This will be the first Atwater-centric hour of the 2024 TV schedule, and LaRoyce Hawkins has some heavy lifting to do in the role. The actor spoke with CinemaBlend ahead of the new episode, including about his character's preparedness as a mentor and the real-llife advice that Hawkins got in from One Chicago alum Mykelti Williamson.
Called “Split Second,” the new Chicago P.D. episode on February 21 will see Atwater turning to an unexpected source for support during the investigation into the jewelry store robberies. Whether he’ll need this support professionally, emotionally, or a combination of the two remains to be seen, but the most recent episode certainly put Torres through the wringer!
Speaking with CinemaBlend, LaRoyce Hawkins pointed out that “Intelligence is built to run into the darkness” and they’re facing “a powerful smash and grab” kind of robbery that turns deadly. Atwater will need to treat the situation with the right “amount of empathy and care.” Considering that Atwater seems to be dealing with the fewest personal crises of anybody in the unit in Season 11, it’s easy to see why he’s a good fit to take the lead for this case! I asked the actor how ready Atwater is to step up as a leader and a mentor, and he shared:
I think he's ready. I think he's had the experience and learned from the mistakes in a way that he's more than prepared for that role. And not just like a mentor to young people in the unit, but also as a support to Voight. I think that's also what Voight is looking for at this point. Who in the unit can he depend on, can he trust to protect him as well? He's getting, I don't want to say older, but more seasoned as a sergeant. How do we support him and make his job easy? I know that's something that LaRoyce Hawkins thinks about every day on the way to work. How we hold the old man up. And that's the approach for Atwater as well. You know, there's just ways to support Sarge.
Atwater isn’t the only character to put some thought into the relationship with Voight, as Upton chose the sergeant as her confidant in the Season 11 premiere. LaRoyce Hawkins’ character is in a much better headspace than she was when Season 11 kicked off, however, and he hasn’t gone on the bumpy ride that Ruzek and Burgess did in the early episodes of the season, despite the eventual happy news of their engagement. He certainly hasn’t made a potentially huge mistake as dire as what Torres did last week!
In light of the personal troubles facing the other cops that have understandably bled into the workplace, I shared with LaRoyce Hawkins that I tend to see Atwater as the most steady and reliable member of the team at this point. He responded with the advice he received from Mykelti Williamson – who played an adversary of the Intelligence Unit earlier in the show's run – about Season 11, saying:
Really, you think so? That means a lot, that means a lot. I think that Atwater is just built a certain way, and it's great that you feel like that. I think that's the intention. Obviously, nobody's perfect, but I got a great note from a big homie of mine before the season started, [from] Mykelti Williamson, who we know played a very pivotal role as an adversary to Voight in seasons prior. I was talking to him, just trying to get some direction or advice about how to approach the season, and he told me something interesting about exploring my imperfections more, which I think historically, I fell into an easy trap, being the only prominent Black character on a show like this.
Mykelti Williamson recurred on Chicago P.D. from Season 4 to early Season 5 as Denny Woods, who fans will remember was a major thorn in the side of Voight and the Intelligence Unit. He also appeared in Law & Order: Organized Crime, leading him to open up about the Wolf Entertainment family. LaRoyce Hawkins clearly has a much better relationship with Williamson than Atwater with Denny Woods, and he elaborated on the advice he received:
I think there can be a pressure sometimes to want to hold the whole culture on your shoulders, and so I would approach every scene ready to challenge the writers to make Atwater more righteous, and there were moments when I think I needed to be that precious. But I think there were also moments where I didn't have to be, and where my imperfections could have been explored a little more, because I'm learning that audiences relate more to mistakes than righteousness, especially when they're redeemable. Right? So with that being said, that was an approach that I walked into this whole season with, and it really helped me in this episode make some decisions that I didn't love, but I can live with.
As the actor pointed out, Atwater is the only prominent Black character on Chicago P.D., with characters like Denny Woods and Ray Price (Wendell Pierce) only recurring for a limited number of episodes. A number of his storylines have also touched on the conflict between “Black and blue,” a.k.a. being a Black police officer in Chicago. Hawkins went on:
It helped me take some pages out of Voight's playbook, where you apply a dark pressure but you get the bright results you need. So I'm grateful. I'm grateful for [Mykelti] for opening that up for me, because I think exponentially it helped me in a lot of different other ways.
Characters on Chicago P.D. – notably including Upton and Halstead, which arguably led to his decision to leave CPD – have struggled with finding the brightness after embracing Voight’s brand of darkness, so it should be interesting to see how Atwater continues to handle it. The next chance will be during the investigation into the jewelry store robberies in the episode that airs on NBC on February 21, and will stream with a Peacock Premium subscription. Check out the promo below:
Tune in to NBC on Wednesdays for the One Chicago block of primetime, starting with Chicago Med at 8 p.m. ET, continuing with Chicago Fire at 9 p.m. ET, and concluding with Chicago P.D. at 10 p.m. ET. All three shows are either moving on in the wake of losing a character (with Med saying goodbye to Will Halstead at the end of Season 8) or building up to a goodbye (with Brett bowing out of Fire and Upton in her last season of P.D.), so don’t miss an episode!
