One Chicago, which consists of the NBC series Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med, is one of TV's biggest franchises, and its appeal continues to grow. It features annual crossover events that range in scale and story, and they always cause a stir within the fandom. The shows' setting of Chicago makes the crossover events easier, but it's not their only connection. A decade ago, it started building meaningful connections between the three procedural dramas.
The universe, produced by TV giant Dick Wolf, launched in 2012 with Chicago Fire. Two years later Chicago P.D. premiered, and Chicago Med came one year after that. The franchise tried to expand further in 2017 with another spinoff called Chicago Justice, but that series was surprisingly canceled after just one season. The other shows are still going strong. Chicago Fire is in its 10th season, Chicago P.D. is on its ninth, and Chicago Med is airing its seventh. All of them are renewed through next season and show no signs of slowing down. Why would they after building this much history in their canon?
Chicago Fire established the franchise characters early, like The Office did with Michael Scott. The first season of Fire quickly introduced Hank Voight as an antagonist and potential lead for a spinoff. Voight's dynamic with Matthew Casey was tense and drove much of the drama in Season 1. If there was any doubt that NBC planned to create a show focused on the police force, the same episode also featured Gabby Dawson's brother Antonio, who was also a cop. All of the puzzle pieces started falling into place.
Antonio became the other side of Voight's coin, but Chicago Fire didn't stop planting seeds with those two characters. A charismatic detective named Jay Halstead appeared in Season 2 and struck up a romance with Gabby that ended after an undercover case almost went sour. The simultaneous end of that relationship and Jay's undercover mission created the perfect opportunity for him request a spot in the Intelligence Unit run by Hank Voight. With that, Chicago P.D. was born in 2014. Its darker plots proved the franchise could branch out not just by adding more shows, but by also incorporating different tones.
One Chicago also took the typical procedural romance subplot and expanded it across multiple shows. There were crossover pairings like Chicago Fire's Kelly Severide and Erin Lindsay from Chicago P.D., and Antonio Dawson and Chicago Fire's Sylvie Brett. Plus, Firehouse 51 and the Intelligence Unit regularly worked cases together to make Chicago safer. But when those major incidents happened, the characters needed someplace to take victims and survivors — hence the creation of Chicago Med in 2015.
In Chicago Fire's third season, a backdoor pilot for the medical drama introduced an attending physician in the Emergency Department named Will Halstead, who was Jay Halstead's older brother. One Halstead was great, but two Halsteads was better. The hospital became another place where characters from mostly Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med interacted frequently.
As characters have come and gone, Chicago Med's Will Halstead and Chicago P.D.'s Jay Halstead now have the most direct connection, holding the franchise together much like Gabby and Antonio Dawson in the early days. One location that also serves as an anchor for all three series is Molly's Pub, the bar where characters often come for drinks or meetings, and a recognizable landmark for viewers similar to The Luncheonette on Parenthood.
Molly's is more than a hub for the crossovers; it's a haven for the characters after their eventful days of being first responders. They come together to celebrate wins, process losses, gather courage for what's next and unwind with their beverage of choice. The characters who own and work at the bar are main characters in the One Chicago shows. From Christopher Herrmann and the late Brian "Otis" Zvonecek to Stella Kidd and Trudy Platt, Molly's stays in the family. It's not only a safe place for everyone to come, but a familiar place for viewers to see the whole One Chicago universe come together.