‘Chicago Justice’ Canceled After One Season at NBC

The verdict is in for Chicago Justice. NBC has canceled the Dick Wolf legal drama after one season.

Justice, the fourth addition to Dick Wolf’s Chicago franchise, opened softly midseason with a 13-episode run that averaged a 1.6 rating in the adults 18-49 demo and 8.7 million viewers. However, the drama boasted by far the smallest cast of the Chicago franchise, with just five series regulars.

The legal spinoff, starring Philip Winchester and Carl Weathers, leaned decidedly more procedural than its soapier counterparts like Chicago Fire, reminiscent of Wolf’s first NBC series, Law & Order. In addition to showrunner Michael S. Chernuchin, a Law & Order vet, the drama welcomed several franchise vets onscreen during the 13-episode first season, including former star Richard Brooks and recurring favorite Tovah Feldshuh, with plans to bring back more familiar faces in season two.

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It’s unclear what the cancelation means for Chicago franchise mainstay Jon Seda. He was a heavily recurring character on the first season of Fire, playing the brother of Monica Raymund’s paramedic Gabriela Dawson, before he and Jason Beghe’s characters were spun off into their own cop drama, Chicago P.D. Seda left P.D. midway through the most recent fourth season to become a regular on Justice. 

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“It’s unchartered waters,” Seda told THR about moving from an established fourth-year series to a first-year entry. “It’s something that has really never been done before, so yeah, there are those questions but I was quickly, quickly assured and I think Dick Wolf’s been doing this for a while so I trust him.”

He added: “I’m a team player and I’m just glad to be part of this unique, unprecedented situation that’s happening here.”

However, Seda was vague about his future when he tweeted a thank-you note to fans shortly after news of the cancelation broke.

To the cast & fans of @NBCChicagoFire @NBCChicagoPD @NBCChicagoMed & @chicagojustice I’m forever grateful for the ride we shared 2gether!

— Jon Seda (@JonSeda) May 23, 2017

While the fate of Chicago Justice was not decided before NBC’s upfront presentation May 15, the network had yet to decide the future of several projects, including the mockumentary comedy Trial and Error, which was renewed for a 10-episode second season Saturday, and the Casey Wilson-Busy Philipps comedy pilot The Sackett Sisters, which still remains in contention and for which the two stars have since started a social media campaign titled #MustSeeSackett.