EXCLUSIVE: NBC’s three Chicago series will be back in the fall with their leads intact as Chicago Fire‘s Taylor Kinney, Miranda Rae Mayo and Dermot Mulroney, Chicago P.D.’s Jason Beghe and Chicago Med‘s S. Epatha Merkerson and Oliver Platt are all locked in to continue on their shows. Four of them, Kinney, Beghe, Merkerson and Platt, have been headlining their shows from the start as original cast members. Kinney is headed into his 14th season on Fire, Beghe into his 13th season on P.D. and Merkerson and Platt into their 11th season on Med.
Chicago Fire‘s Kinney, Mayo and Mulroney have all closed new deals to continue on the firefighter drama, sources said. Negotiations with the trio continued after the three Chicago series, produced by Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, were renewed by NBC in early May.
The most recent contracts for Kinney and Mayo — who joined the drama as a recurring in Season 4 and has been a series regular since Season 5 — were up at the end of this season. Meanwhile, Mulroney had signed a one-year deal when he joined Fire last summer as new fire chief, not unusual for a name actor coming onto a long-running series.
As Deadline reported last July, Merkerson and Platt inked new multi-year contracts last year; their options for the 2025-26 season have been picked up under. That also is the case with Beghe who also has more time on his current P.D. deal, we hear.
According to sources, the upcoming seasons of the Chicago dramas will consist of 21 episodes. As Deadline has reported, most — if not all — cast members will not appear in a couple of the 21 episodes each, part of a widely use cost-trimming measure.
One Chicago NBC
Kinney, Mayo, Mulroney, Beghe, Merkerson and Platt’s characters all ended the 2024-26 season looking forward to what’s to come, none more than Kinney’s Kelly Severide and Mayo’s Stella Kidd who were surprised by a positive pregnancy test in the recent finale.
One Chicago has helped NBC dominate Wednesday nights. The three shows, which pioneered the integrated franchise universe, also work well together, with the Jan. 29 crossover setting Live+7 season high marks for each show.
Chicago Med, which airs at 8 PM. Wednesdays, is executive produced by Dick Wolf, Allen MacDonald, Stephen Hootstein and Peter Jankowski. Chicago Fire, which airs at 9 PM, is executive produced by Dick Wolf, Andrea Newman, Reza Tabrizi, Matt Whitney and Peter Jankowski. Chicago P.D. airs at 10 PM and is executive produced by Dick Wolf, Gwen Sigan, Chad Saxton, Gavin Harris, Jason Beghe, and Peter Jankowski.
All three series are produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, in association with Wolf Entertainment.
