Warning: This story contains major spoilers from the season 5 finale ofChicago P.D.Read at your own risk!
Going into the season finale, Olinsky’s (Elias Koteas) fate was looking grim.
EW caught up with executive producer Rick Eid to get insight into Olinsky’s tragic death.
Parrish Lewis/NBC
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Why did Al have to die?
RICK EID:He didn’t have to die.
It was one of the things that just evolved from the storytelling this season.
From a dramatic point of view, we all thought it was really interesting.
It was just a tough thing.
We were like, “Wow.
It feels like Voight is finally paying for what he did to this Bingham character.”
It was an interesting way for Olinsky to exit.
We kept talking about him.
He’d be dying on the mantle of his own loyalty.
Just all the writer speak and creative things, it was a really compelling idea.
That’s honestly how it all came about.
Was there ever any conversation about Hank ending up in jail and Al surviving?
Yeah, I think everything was on the table.
Really we just kept talking about what happens.
What does Woods do?
What’s Woods play here?
What’s Voight’s play here?
What’s Olinsky’s play here?
Does Olinsky finally give up and flip on Voight?
That’s ultimately how it all came about.
It’s all interesting fertile territory to explore.
We haven’t convened the writers' room for next season yet.
So who knows where it will all go?
Everybody’s impacted, and everybody has their own point of view.
We saw some of that with Antonio and Voight in the finale and in episode 21 as well.
I’m sure it’ll play out in some fashion in season 6.
There are witnesses who saw Hank shoot that man on the rooftop in cold blood.
Will that come back to haunt him next season?
So, I think there are a lot of interesting things that we will play out in that investigation.
How will Al’s death affect everyone going into next season?
I think it will definitely affect everyone in a meaningful way.
I think it will manifest in different ways for different characters.
I think Ruzek will be really impacted by that, Antonio.
Al was a beloved figure in that unit, and some people are going to blame Voight.
I’m pretty sure Voight’s going to blame Voight.
It’ll be interesting, hopefully.
Is this the last we’ve seen of Denny?
There may be more to the story than we know.
One season at a time.
He’s a great character, he’s a great actor.
We like to reflect that in our show in some way.
Have you already started talking about another bigChicagocrossover for next season?
We have not started talking about that just yet.
No, but it would not shock me if there were a crossover at some point in the season.
But we haven’t talked about that yet.
