Most of the current Chicago P.D. cast in the fall 2025 TV schedule has been around from the very beginning, but one star will be stepping away from the One Chicago cop drama. Patrick John Flueger, who has been playing Officer Adam Ruzek since the pilot in 2014, is taking a leave of absence, which requires some changes behind the scenes, as well as presumably within the on-screen Intelligence Unit in the current 13th season.
Flueger is taking a break from the One Chicago world for the purpose of dealing with a personal matter, according to Deadline. The news comes in the relatively early days of Season 13, on the heels of a major Burzek episode as Ruzek and Detective Kim Burgess settle into married life as parents. The good news is that Flueger is expected to return from his temporary leave later in the season.
It’s not unusual for Chicago P.D. characters to be MIA from time to time since the episode counts for stars were cut in 2023, and that approach was confirmed to continue back in the spring of 2025. That said, the outlet reports that Patrick John Flueger’s departure was not expected, requiring scripts to be tweaked to accommodate Ruzek’s absence.
It remains to be seen how Chicago P.D. explains Ruzek’s absence, since the unexpected nature of the actor taking a leave indicates that there probably wasn’t time for a big Ruzek-centric episode to deliver a twist that takes him out of the action for a time.
Chicago Fire also dealt with an actor taking a leave, when Taylor Kinney stepped away in March 2023 and didn’t return until January 2024. (It’s worth noting that the WGA writers strike and SAG-AFTRA actors strike resulted in Chicago Fire not returning for the new season until that January premiere.) Fire simply explained that Severide was expanding his OFI skills off screen and kept the action going otherwise.
It might be trickier on P.D. with Ruzek, considering the cop drama’s smaller cast of series regulars compared to Fire and his recent marriage to Burgess. He’s also not the only longtime regular to step away from One Chicago this fall, although his return seems far more guaranteed than Marlyne Barrett to Chicago Med.
For now, we can only hope that Patrick John Flueger gets the time that he needs away from the grind of a network TV schedule. Chicago P.D. has certainly survived cast exits in the past with no expectation of their returns, like Jesse Lee Soffer as Jay Halstead and Tracy Spiridakos as Hailey Upton, and this isn’t expected to be permanent.
It’s reportedly just a matter of time, patience, and hopefully privacy for the actor until we see him back in primetime as Adam Ruzek. And if you’re missing the Burzek action… well, every episode of Chicago P.D. so far is available streaming now with a Peacock subscription.