A new trade report hints at when Chicago Fire season 12 and the rest of One Chicago return to the air. It took five months for the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike to finally reach an end, which means that writers can now get back to work. This has left many excited to see new episodes from their favorite shows once again, especially in light of the already delayed fall 2023 TV season.
With the WGA reaching a deal with AMPTP, a new report from Deadline cites information from industry insiders, offering an idea of when the Chicago-based Dick Wolf franchise might return to the small screen with new episodes.
If writers can get back to their desks around the beginning of October, which is likely given that there's a suggestion that the WGA might vote to lift the strike restraining order as soon as the end of this week, execs agree that dramas can be back on air early to mid-March. This applies mostly to procedurals such as the One Chicago franchise, The Rookie, NCIS and The Cleaning Lady — essentially series without too many special effects.
Typically, the One Chicago franchise, alongside the rest of its fellow scripted series on network TV, would have already returned for its summer break. However, due to the historic dual strikes of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA for proper compensation and protection from AI technology, among others, broadcasters have come up with a temporary primetime schedule to fill in timeslot gaps because of the work stoppage. However, just because the WGA has already gotten their deal, it doesn't mean that episodes are going to be ready for broadcasting right away.
For starters, the SAG-AFTRA strike is still ongoing, which means that even if scripts are finished, actors can't go back to work for filming unless a resolution is achieved. If the upcoming negotiations end up being successful, production can start whenever the networks and people involved decide on it. However, with the usual winter break coming up, many shows are expected to still follow their usual production calendar towards the end of the year. Finally, before One Chicago can return, several episodes should have already been filmed and edited to ensure that they are ahead of the weekly releases.
Assuming that Chicago Fire and One Chicago are able to return sometime in March 2024, viewers should expect truncated seasons. Due to the limited weeks leading to its usual finale schedule, there will be fewer episodes for all shows. This shouldn't be a cause for concern, however, as long as all shows are guaranteed to return in the fall of 2024.
