After One Chicago’s 800th Episode, The Franchise’s Forgotten Spinoff Deserves A Second Chance

Published Oct 31, 2026, 11:45 AM EDT Laura Hurley has been writing about the entertainment industry for more than twelve years, after a decade as a content producer and editor at CinemaBlend after writing for WhatCulture and Examiner. Attending events like SCAD TVfest and San Diego Comic-Con over the course of her career, she has been immersed in the world of network, streaming, and cable TV. NBC's One Chicago franchise is still going strong after more than 15 years in primetime, and the original series will soon broadcast its 300th episode. Chicago Fire's milestone isn't the only major event in the Windy City corner of Dick Wolf's TV world this fall, however. Between all of the One Chicago shows in the franchise, a total of 800 episodes have aired. Naturally, most of those come from Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., and Chicago Med, but one forgotten spinoff contributed to reaching 800. As of the One Chicago episodes that aired on October 21 in NBC's 2026 fall schedule, Chicago Fire has broadcast 298 episodes over 15 seasons. Chicago P.D. comes in second, with 267 episodes across 14 seasons. Chicago Med is next, with 222 episodes over 12 seasons after reaching the 200-episode mark last fall. That totals out to 787 episodes. The show that takes the franchise up to the milestone was cancelled after just one season, but the 13 episodes of Chicago Justice were just enough for the total of 800. Chicago Justice expanded the franchise to a total of four shows for a brief span in 2017, and the drama had what should have been a winning recipe. Jon Seda, a popular member of the Chicago P.D. cast as Antonio Dawson, joined Justice as a series regular. That was enough to create strong ties to P.D. and even Chicago Fire from the jump, and Carl Weathers was a great hook as Cook County State's Attorney Mark Jefferies. Plus, decades of success with the Law & Order franchise proved there was an audience for legal storylines within Wolf Entertainment. Unfortunately, Chicago Justice wasn't renewed after the first 13 episodes, and it ranks as the one and only One Chicago series ever to be canceled. Now, nearly a decade after Justice ended, the premise deserves a second chance. How One Chicago Could Use Chicago Justice In 2026 Courtesy of MovieStillsDB While the law has been a focus in One Chicago going back to when Chicago Fire started the franchise by setting up Chicago P.D. 2012, there wasn't much need for lawyers for the first several years of the franchise. As of 2026, however, the cops of the Intelligence Unit aren't the only ones who regularly have run-ins with the law. In fact, fans are required to suspend their disbelief for certain storylines of Fire and Chicago Med that don't involve lawyers and courtrooms. There may not have been enough of a need for a Chicago-set legal drama within Wolf Entertainment in 2017, but the other three shows could use some elements from Justice in 2026. NBC has a good thing going with the three-show One Chicago Wednesdays, so it's unlikely that another show in the franchise would premiere unless Fire, P.D., and/or Med end. That doesn't mean the franchise couldn't use some of what did work on Justice. One Chicago even did that, to a certain extent, after NBC canceled Chicago Justice in 2017. Jon Seda was brought back to Chicago P.D. as a series regular, and Antonio Dawson remained in the franchise until Seda's exit in 2019. Philip Winchester was enough of a hit as ASA Peter Stone on Justice that he played the character for two seasons on Law & Order: SVU. Despite the passage of time, perhaps One Chicago could bring back members of the cast to pop in and out of Fire, P.D., and/or Med. Weathers died in 2024, but cast members like Seda, Winchester, Joelle Carter, and Monica Barbaro can theoretically return. Even though the circumstances of Antonio's departure from Chicago P.D. and Stone's exit from SVU seemed pretty final, enough time has passed that the actors could believably reprise their roles. After all, this is a franchise that regularly recycles actors to play multiple different characters. Plus, with nearly 800 episodes between Fire, P.D., and Med, the procedurals could use some freshening up, and bringing back a legal side to the drama could pay off. Why Chicago Justice Was Canceled Courtesy of MovieStillsDB The stars did not align for Chicago Justice in 2017. Despite the drama earning higher ratings on NBC than Taken and Shades of Blue at the time, those two were renewed while Chicago Justice was canceled. Its first (and only) season delivered an average rating of 1.5 across seven days. While that was a solid number, it fell behind Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med's 1.9 rating and Chicago Fire's 2.3. NBC shed more light on the cancellation decision in the months that followed. Then-NBC Chairman Robert Greenblatt told Deadline: It just became somewhat of a real estate issue and just looking at how many of these Chicago shows we can sustain, we thought they are all good but it seemed like Justice was the most conventional, it was the closest to a Law & Order show, so we thought maybe this is the one we should sacrifice. But it wasn’t because the show wasn’t good, it was really because a lot of other factors. The network's decision to focus on sustaining Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., and Chicago Med at the expense of Chicago Justice appears to have borne fruit. The three shows still active in the One Chicago franchise have premiered as NBC's highest-rated of the 2026-2027 TV season so far, in a historic clean sweep of the podium positions. Interestingly, though, Law & Order: SVU was the only Law & Order show on the air when Chicago Justice was canceled. Whatever problems NBC was having in deciding on the lineup, it wasn't an overabundance of legal dramas in primetime. The network didn't have more than one Law & Order show airing at the same time again until Law & Order: Organized Crime joined SVU in 2021. Between the ratings and the scheduling difficulties in 2017, Chicago Justice just didn't deliver what NBC needed to order a second season. Even worse, Chicago Justice isn't available streaming on Peacock like the other three One Chicago shows are. For now, the best odds at the legal drama getting a second shot are for lawyers to start getting storylines on Fire, P.D., and Med, and that wouldn't be a bad thing the longer that these procedurals last. TV Show(s) Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., Chicago Med, Chicago Justice First TV Show Chicago Fire Cast Jesse Spencer, Taylor Kinney, Monica Raymund, Jason Beghe, Jon Seda, Sophia Bush, Jesse Lee Soffer, Nick Gehlfuss, Yaya DaCosta, Torrey DeVitto, Rachel DiPillo, Philip Winchester, Joelle Carter, Monica Barbaro, Carl Weathers, Yuri Sardarov Created by Derek Haas, Michael Brandt