Is Burgess Leaving Chicago P.D.? Here’s Whether She’s *Really* Retiring From Intelligence
As one of the original officers at the 21st District, it’s understandable why fans want to know if Kim Burgess is leaving Chicago P.D. and what could happen to Marina Squerciati’s character now that other One Chicago stars are dropping like flies from the franchise.
Chicago P.D. is NBC’s drama series following the personal and professional lives of patrol officers and Intelligence Unit detectives at the Chicago Police Department’s fictional 21st District. The show is a spinoff of Chicago Fire, Chicago Med and Chicago Justice, which exist in the same universe. Marina Squerciati plays officer Kim Burgess, a former-flight attendant-turned-patrol-officer who later becomes a detective in the Intelligence Unit.
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Squerciati has starred as Burgess since the premiere of Chicago P.D. in 2014. “We all have good days and bad days, just like any human,” Squerciati told Parade in February 2023 of Chicago P.D. running for 10 seasons and 200 episodes. “But it really is we show up for each other. We love each other very much. To be at 200 and still have that kind of rapport with your friends… I see them more than I see my family. You are with these people 14 hours a day and the fact that, yeah, we get annoyed with each other but it’s all petty squabbles. We’re a family.”
But could it be the end for Burgess? Read on for what we know about if Burgess is leavingChicago P.D. and what happened to Marina Squerciati character.
Is Kim Burgess leaving Chicago P.D.?
Burgess most recently sparked speculation she was leaving Chicago P.D. in Season 12, Season 6, “Pawns,” in which Detective Mariel Suarez offers Burgess a job as a detective for the Chicago Police Department after 10 seasons as an officer. The catch is that she would have to leave the Intelligence Unit — and the rest of the Chicago P.D. crew — because of Suarez belief that Burgess’ boss, Sergeant Hank Voight, would stunt her growth as a detective.
Squerciati confirmed that she wasn’t leaving Chicago P.D. in an interview with TV Insider in November 2024 in which she suggested that Burgess still has a lot of story to tell now that she’s becoming a detective. “I think that it’s been a long time coming,” Squerciati said. “I think she’s really excited. I think she’s really nervous. When you want something so bad, do you kill it? I don’t know. I think she deserves it and hope she gets it.”
She continued, “Burgess is sort of put to the test with the politics and the dirt that she doesn’t realize how much Voight shields her from in the force that has sort of tainted or made other people grow to be stronger. It could go both ways. and I don’t know that Burgess exactly knows how to deal with it quite yet.”
What happened to Kim Burgess on Chicago P.D.?
Burgess has had one heck of a storyline in the past few seasons of Chicago P.D., so it’s understandable why fans would wonder if she was retiring from the force and leaving One Chicago for good.
In season 10, episode 14 “Trapped” — which is also the 200th episode of Chicago P.D. — Burgess faced the post-traumatic stress she experienced in season 8, episode 16, in which she was kidnapped, shot and left for dead by two criminals she was investigating. Burgess survived by making her way to a car before she passes out from blood loss. She’s found by senior detective Jay Halstead and officer Kevin Atwater after she switches on the car’s turn signal before passing out.
In “Trapped,” Burgess is at home with her ex-fiance, officer Adam Ruzek and her daughter, Makayla Ward, when a car backfires outside and Burgess mistakes it for a gunshot. As a result, she curls up in a corner of the living room as flashbacks show her remembering her near-death experience in the season 8 finale. Later in “Trapped,” Burgess and Ruzek come across a shooting by chance and follow the commotion to the L subway, where Burgess stays with the victim who has been shot while Ruzek chases the suspect. The gunfire triggers more post-traumatic stress for Burgess as she struggles to keep pressure on the victim’s wound to stop her from bleeding. When Ruzek finds Burgess again and calms her down, she discovers that the victim had bled out and died.
“Trapped” ends with Burgess seeing a therapist and acknowledging the trauma she has and how it can affect her career. She tells the therapist that police officers are often pulled from their jobs for post-traumatic stress, and she wouldn’t know what she would do if she wasn’t a cop. The next episode — season 10, episode 15, “Damage Control” — sees Burgess still seeing her therapist for her trauma.
In an interview with TV Insider in February 2023, Marina Squerciati, who plays Burgess, confirmed that Burgess seeing a therapist to deal with her post-traumatic stress was a good sign for her on Chicago P.D. and her relationship with Ruzek. “Ruzek has been there with an outstretched hand for a long time, and it’s Kim’s turn to show up,” Squerciati said. “She wants to take control of her life and not carry this pain and feel trapped inside herself.”
Squerciati also suggested that Burgess wasn’t leaving Chicago P.D. any time soon due to her relationship with Ruzek, whom she later reunited with. “I think fans won’t be pleased, from what I can gather on Twitter, until we kiss,” she said. “But in the sense that it’s movement toward a greater good, yes.” Still, if Burgess does leave Chicago P.D., Squerciati wouldn’t be shocked given how she “never” expected the show to run for as many seasons as it has in the first place. “Actors don’t think anything can last,” she said. “So many shows don’t make it, but [producer] Dick Wolf seems to have the secret sauce. So I never should have doubted!”
Patrick John Flueger, who plays Ruzek, also seemed to confirm to Cinema Blend in February 2023 that Burgess wasn’t leaving Chicago P.D. as there was still more story to tell with their characters after Burgess asked him to be Makayla’s guardian in season 8. “Makayla coming in, on the one hand, just from my character’s perspective, I think it’s the one thing that made him pause and reassess how he approaches everything, including his job, certainly his relationship,” he said. “That’s the thing that made him grow up, as it were, which I think is pretty standard for men to a certain degree as a kid comes into the picture, and they realize like, ‘Oh, I can’t be Peter Pan anymore, because I got one of those right here. I don’t want them turning into a Lost Boy.’ So no, I don’t think they would have and I think she needed the help.”
Squerciati added, “That’s more you, right? Like, you stepped in, in a way. I was doing this thing, no matter what. It’s a glue. I would hope they would still end up together and figure this stuff out, but maybe you need a push.”
In an interview with Us Weekly in February 2023, Squerciati explained how she researched post-traumatic and panic attacks to portray Burgess’ condition as accurate as possible. “There’s an ABC journalist that had a panic attack on air,” she said. “There’s a model that was having a photo shoot and had a panic attack on her Instagram and posted it. I did a ton of work. And I hope that it shows because … I really wanted it to be grounded in reality.”
Flueger added, “I can’t imagine how exhausted she was at the end of the day. And then she’s got her real life to go back to, which is also much more complicated than mine. Can’t imagine.”
In the same interview, Flueger commended Squerciati on her performance in “Trapped.” “Marina literally carried [this episode] and I haven’t seen the whole thing, but crush town, population one, Marina,” he said. “Bottom line is she would have 19 people in her face moving her clothes around, putting blood on, taking clothes off because they were too bloody, this, that and the other thing. And then it would be action. And her ability to snap out of that … [maybe] that chaos going on around us helped her. But I was consistently impressed.”
Flueger and Squerciati also confirmed to Us Weekly that there is “no slowing down” in season 10 despite Chicago P.D.‘s “ambitious” 200th episode. “I think at the end of the season. There’s just so much work that goes into this show. It’s really hard to find time to celebrate,” Squerciati said. Flueger added, “I’d say 99.9 percent out of the time that I catch an episode that wasn’t filmed yesterday, I’m like, ‘What? That’s surprising.’ This is gonna paint a picture of me more. I remember what happened after that day of work more than I remember the day of work. Like, ‘Oh, I remember that. That’s where we went that weekend, and we got the party bus to wherever.’ That’s kind of how I measure time — less moments of work and more moments of tremendous fun.”
Chicago P.D. airs on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on NBC.
For more on the One Chicago franchise, check out our gallery of Chicago Fire stars and their real-life relationships.
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