Eight Spoilers for Season 12 of 'Chicago P.D.,' Including New Cast Members and Wedding News

The Season 11 finale of Chicago P.D. had several characters in crisis, including Hank Voight (Jason Beghe), who was in the clutches of a serial killer when Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos) came to his rescue. So, while the two survived, what they experienced left them in turmoil, so much so that Upton quit the force and Voight is a changed man.

“We’re going with this theme of identity and crisis of self for the season,” showrunner Gwen Sigan tells Parade. “It offers up a lot of real estate to talk about our characters and sides of them that we haven’t even in 12 years gotten to see yet, have some moments that can surprise them and have new characters that can surprise them and knock them back and alter their course a bit. We’re surprising ourselves that there’s still so much story with these people.”

In addition to exploring the theme of identity and crisis of self, Season 11 will introduce new characters: Shawn Hatosy as Deputy Chief Charlie Reid and Toya Turner as Kiana Cook.

“It’s really fun for us to get to write brand-new characters and also let that change the dynamics of the unit,” Sigan says.

Related: Chicago P.D. Returns for an Arresting 12th Season, Including a Potential Wedding and New Cast Members

Here are eight fun facts from Sigan that reveal what we can expect in the coming season.

Chicago P.D. Spoilers for Season 13

No. 1: HANK VOIGHT

Voight has experienced a lot in his years in Intelligence that has affected who he is, including the death of his son and his best friend and colleague Alvin Olinsky. But nothing compares to what happened in the Season 11 finale when he accepted his own death.

“Voight’s had a lot of near-death experiences, but nothing like what happened at the end of Season 11, nothing like what happened in that basement,” Sigan says. “So, we’re finding him at the top of Season 12, and not only did he lose Upton, who was his confidante and a bit of his compass, she was able to call him out, but he’s also had this experience where he saw that this could all be gone tomorrow, it could be gone so quickly without you having any ability to tie up loose ends or know that it’s all leaving.

“It in a way has shaken him. I think it made him as introspective as we’ve probably seen him and put him in this place where we’ll see in the premiere that he’s realizing what do I do with the time that I have? I’m still here, why am I still here and what am I going to do with it? It really sets him off on this journey of exploring that a little bit and seeing if in his own identity is there more he wants, is there less he wants, is there a different version of what his life could look like?"

No. 2: CHARLIE REID

New characters always introduce new dynamics to a story and normally that’s not a good thing for Voight, who has his own idea of what policing should look like. But in Reid, he may have found a kindred spirit.

“Charlie Reid’s coming in as somebody fresh and new and also a bit of a cipher,” Sigan says. “We don’t know a lot about him when we meet him. Voight usually has a lot of angles he can play to get information from people, but he doesn’t really know a lot about Charlie Reid. This guy is somewhat mysterious. So, when he comes in and Voight immediately sees, and you’ll see it in the first episode, how this man presents and what kind of police officer he is, he presents a lot like Voight. This is a guy that we always see, he’s out on the streets and he’s not sitting in the ivy tower like he could be. He’s a police officer that wants to be a part of all of the officers that work for him. Voight can really respect that. So, we do have a bit of that kindred spirit as far as police philosophy.”

No. 3: KIANA COOK

Kiana Cook is a patrol officer who loves the adrenaline of the job and its stakes and doesn’t blink in the face of chaos.

“We’ll meet her Episode 2 this season and then you’ll see how we play this story out throughout this season and how she becomes involved in our world.,” Sigan says. “It’s really fun because she is coming from such a different place. I think the most similar as far as background in the patrol of it all would be Torres. He came straight to us from patrol, as well. He almost came straight from the academy, whereas Kiana's been on the street for a few years as a patrol officer and she also has tactical experience. She’s coming with a different police philosophy and she’s definitely very active and she’s very much boots on the ground, wants to be the first on scene, wants to be in the thick of it. When we meet her that really becomes an asset for us. She develops some nice relationships and dynamics with different members of our unit, and then you’ll see how that all falls out.”

Related: There’s a Lot of Shakeups When Chicago Med Scrubs In for Season 10, Including Two New Doctors Checking In

No. 4: ASA NINA CHAPMAN

Another returning face will be ASA Chapman, who has developed a working relationship with Voight that will be explored more now that Upton is gone.

“I think she is also a bit of a kindred spirit now at this point with Voight,” Sigan says. “It’s nice to see that that relationship that they’ve started gets to grow. With the vacuum of Upton being gone, Chapman becomes a bit of a sounding board for him, and also someone that can call him out a bit when he needs it.”

No. 5: ADAM RUZEK/KIM BURGESS

Wedding bells will be ringing for the couple who have struggled through an on-again/off-again relationship, but now have come to a good place.

“I’ve been telling people it will happen, so yes it will happen,” Sigan says. “We really want to play that as realistically and authentically as we can to these two characters. They fought like hell for the relationship. I think that they really do go together so well, and they are just each other’s rock and foundation. So, we want to explore that this year and get to see all that happen for them and see them being able to deal with their own independent issues, but always be able to come back together and have each other’s back and deal with things as a unit now.

"As for the wedding, we’re talking about that in the writers’ room, what do they really want? It’s fun because I think it’s probably changed. They’ve been engaged before, so how is it different at this point? To be determined."

No. 6: TRUDY PLATT

When the series started Trudy was tough on everyone except Voight and Olinsky, but especially Burgess. But now they seem to have formed this bond, which will be explored in Season 11.

“She has, I think, softened a little bit because she really loves all of them a lot over the years,” Sigan says. “But yeah, we will see more of Trudy this year. She definitely is involved in the first two episodes for sure. And we’ll see that she gets involved with the unit quite a lot. I think for them now, she’s become this surrogate Intelligence member. When we need things, we always pull in Trudy. She is definitely Voight’s peer and his confidante, and they have absolute trust. The pair of them have this innate trust for each other. Yeah, we have some fun stories for her, so I think this season will be good.”

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No. 7: KEVIN ATWATER

“We explored last season this idea that Atwater always wants to be everything for everyone,” Sigan says. “I think it’s such a part of him because he’s such an empathetic soul and, also, he’s been raised to be the protector and the caregiver. So, we saw last season that as much as you want to be everything for everyone, it’s almost unrealistic, and that at times, your mental health and just the burnout of it is overwhelming. We articulated that, but we never gave him a solution, we never gave him an answer.

“So, this season we want to explore that: Is there an answer? Is there something that can give him a way to be able to sustain it a little bit better and also take care of himself and have something that is just for him? We’re doing that in the form of a love interest. So, Episode 3 you get to meet someone that really surprises him, somebody that is not what he expected and certainly not what he expected at this time in his life, and almost provides a different way to look at how he’s been dealing with everything all these years.”

No. 8: JOSEPHINE PETROVIC

There was buzz that Petrovic might replace Upton but that isn’t going to happen.

“We won’t see Petrovic again this season, unfortunately,” Sigan says. “We’re playing that she went back to her unit in SVU for Chicago."

Chicago P.D. premieres its 12^th season tonight at 10 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.

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