NBC and Wolf Entertainment have locked in the principal cast of its One Chicago lineup for the coming television season, confirming that the lead actors of Chicago Med, Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D. will return this fall. The network announced new contracts for Chicago Med stars S. Epatha Merkerson and Oliver Platt and for Chicago Fire’s Taylor Kinney and Miranda Rae Mayo, while Chicago P.D. lead Jason Beghe remains under his existing deal.
The new agreements follow an early multi-series renewal in March, when NBC picked up all three dramas for another season and producers at Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television opened negotiations. Sources say talks moved relatively quickly for most of the principals; Kinney, who will be entering his 15th season on Chicago Fire, was the last of the actors requiring fresh contracts to close his deal.
Longtime franchise regulars bring substantial continuity to the Wednesday night block. Beghe, who has led Chicago P.D. since its debut, will begin his 14th season under the current contract, while Merkerson and Platt head into their 12th season together on Chicago Med. Merkerson’s tenure is particularly notable — across her work on Law & Order and Chicago Med she has amassed 29 seasons and more than 610 episodes, having previously set a record as Law & Order’s longest-serving cast member during her 17-season run on that series.
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The renewals come as the One Chicago block continues to be a significant ratings and streaming draw for NBCUniversal. A crossover event staged on March 4 produced season-high total viewers for all three shows and generated a 75 percent year-over-year increase in social video views for the franchise’s digital clips. On Peacock, the three dramas regularly appear in the streamer’s Top 10, with Chicago Med leading off the Wednesday lineup at 8 p.m., followed by Chicago Fire at 9 p.m. and Chicago P.D. at 10 p.m.
Universal Television produces all three series in association with Wolf Entertainment, and the returning ensemble helps preserve the franchise’s established chemistry and storytelling model — frequent character crossovers, shared plotlines and event episodes that have become central to its popularity. The deals for Merkerson and Platt, along with Kinney and Mayo, signal that producers and the network prioritized keeping the veteran casts intact as they prepare storylines for the new season.
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With the principal players secured, production can proceed into pre-season planning for another run of interconnected episodes and crossovers that have been instrumental in maintaining both linear ratings and digital engagement. The return of these leads ensures the One Chicago block will remain a stable fixture of NBC’s fall schedule and of Peacock’s drama offerings going into the next season.
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