A person doesn’t have to be considered a main character to be one of the best. Someone with a five-minute scene can leave just as much of a lasting impression as someone present for twelve seasons. Throughout the combined total of One Chicago’s thirty-three seasons, it’s fairly safe to say there have been a few cast members, no matter how short-lived, to have affected fans through their TV screens. But when one of these favorites dies, that impact can dig further into a person’s heart than if they just left the city. From P.D.’s Nadia Decotis (Stella Maeve) to Fire‘s Otis ( Yuriy Sardarov), their deaths may have vastly varying causes, but the holes they left have yet to be filled.
10. Pat Halstead – ‘Chicago Med’
Played by Louis Herthum
Pat Halstead didn’t have the best relationship with his sons. It was strained at the best of times, and the brothers didn’t really see eye to eye with their father all that often. Halstead Senior was a headstrong man, very set in his ways and independent, so accepting help or advice in any way from his boys wasn’t something he was fond of doing. So when he had to take it easy after open heart surgery, he wasn’t all that compliant.
9. Jason Wheeler – ‘Chicago Med’
Played by Jürgen Hooper
Jason Wheeler was a character only appearing in eight episodes throughout the duration of Med’s first season. He struggled with drug and alcohol abuse as a result of finding it difficult to work under the pressures of an emergency department environment. He wasn’t necessarily likable compared to the other characters on the show, but viewers could learn a thing or two from him.
8. Sheldon Jin – ‘Chicago P.D.’
Played by Archie Kao
Before fan favorite civilian tech Greg Gerwitz, better known to viewers as Mouse (Samuel Hunt), joined the Intelligence Unit in Chicago P.D.‘s second season, Sheldon Jin was the go-to guy for this specialist team whenever they needed technical assistance. He appeared at least once in every episode of season one, but his time on the show came to an end in the first finale of the series.
If there’s one thing known about the team in the Intelligence Unit, it’s that you don’t betray Hank Voight (Jason Beghe). Caught up in a messy plan to arrest his superior when his family was threatened, Jin was deemed invaluable to the cause and murdered for his trouble by corrupt Internal Affairs Sergent Edwin Stillwell (Ian Bohen). While it was known the trouble Sheldon was involved with, his death came as a shock to close out the season, proving these shows weren’t above killing off their main characters.
7. Lexi Olinsky – ‘Chicago P.D.’
Played by Alina Jenine Taber
While Alvin Olinsky was a prominent part of Chicago P.D. for its first five seasons, his daughter Lexi only showed up here and there, appearing in a total of seven episodes, including Fire‘s “Deathtrap,” across a five-year span. She was killed in the warehouse blaze while partying with a group of other teenagers, leaving her father heartbroken when she sadly succumbed to her injuries.
6. Leslie Shay – ‘Chicago Fire’
Played by Lauren German
Viewers of Chicago Fire were introduced to Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) and Leslie Shay’s friendship early in the first season. Their bond was about as strong as two people could get, there for one another with any problem, need of advice, or simply a shoulder to cry on. Shay was a constant presence until her untimely death in the season three opener.
5. Justin Voight – ‘Chicago P.D.’
Played by Josh Segarra
Justin Voight appeared sporadically throughout the first three seasons of Chicago P.D. He first presented in the third episode of season one, “Chin Check,” as a cocky, overly confident man just being released from prison. The audience’s first on-screen impression of him comes when Erin Lindsey (Sophia Bush) meets him at the prison entrance, to which he promptly kisses her on the lips, catching her completely off-guard.
4. Anna Turner – ‘Chicago Fire’
Played by Charlotte Sullivan
Just because a death is expected, doesn’t make it any easier to deal with, and Anna Turner’s passing is one of Chicago Fire’s hardest to watch. She was welcomed to the Fire team in the season five episode “One Hundred,” and fans quickly grew to like her character. She formed a connection with long-standing Fire member Kelly Severide, and the two eventually started a relationship.
Later in her story, Anna’s past and current medical problems were revealed to fans. Having grown to like her, the news that she had cancer came as an emotional blow. Severide and Anna only grew closer even as she got sicker and sicker. When the time finally came to say goodbye, it was utterly distressing to see her death play out on screen. From Severide being comforted by her father to him begging her not to go, this is one character death that had fans reeling long after the credits rolled.
Played by Stella Maeve
Nadia’s death was almost unbearable. She came into the Chicago P.D. family in the first season’s fourth episode, “Now Is Always Temporary,” as a prostitute who gets one over on Adam Ruzek (Patrick Fleuger) by kicking him in the groin and fleeing the scene. Although she started her time on the show as just another part of this week’s crime, she became so much more as her time in the series progressed.
As usual with One Chicago crossovers, someone is usually left bordering on the line between life and death. This time, it was Nadia. In a crossover with Law and Order: SVU, Nadia was sadly caught in the crossfire between serial killer Gregory Yates (Dallas Roberts) and the Chicago and New York City police departments. Yates set his sights on her in a previous episode before finally acting, resulting in her rape and murder. After everything she’d been through, for her to go out this way was emotionally distressing.
2. Alvin Olinsky – ‘Chicago P.D.’
Played by Elias Koteas
Cops in jail typically don’t fare well. They’ll likely be targeted when their law enforcement roots surface as the top story on prison news. For Al, his status caught up to him when he was cornered by a gang and stabbed multiple times. Al initially survived his wounds, being transported to the hospital, where he was rushed into surgery. Voight was by his side as he was wheeled away, and the scene cuts between him and the rest of Intelligence anxiously waiting for news. Devastatingly, Olinsky succumbed to his injuries and died during surgery, and the show hasn’t been the same without him since. To this say, it is one of Chicago P.D.’s saddest episodes.
1. Brian “Otis” Zvonecek – ‘Chicago Fire’
Played by Yuriy Sardarov
As previously mentioned, death can be devastating whether fans know it’s coming or not. But when a long-running character whose been present on the show since the pilot episode is killed off without warning, the level of shock that accompanies that viewing experience can hit fans hard in the chest.