The Chicago PD Season 13 finale is the end of a harrowing road for new recruit Eva Imani. One Chicago viewers watched as Imani’s search for her missing sister came to a head when Shari was finally located—with the heartbreakng twist that she didn’t recognize Eva. Where could the story possibly go from here?

In an interview with TVBrittanyF.com, executive producer Gwen Sigan and actor Arienne Mandi spoke about what separates this finale from the big conclusions that Chicago PD has done in the past. Plus, how does Arienne compare her heavy lifting as Imani to the work she did on Netflix’s The Night Agent? Read part one of our two-part finale conversation below.

Brittany Frederick: So many Chicago PD finales have been centered on Hank Voight in some way, or at least been whole team stories. What went into the decision that the Season 13 finale would be focused on the show’s newest character?

Gwen Sigan: it had been working for us all season, so we were excited to do it in the last two [episodes]. I think even from the beginning, like the first day in the room, we knew that this would be the finale—just because the sister was going to be such a big part of the season and sort of this drive and the Voight-Imani relationship.

But it was fun. We loved that it was a little different. I loved that the pacing was different, too. We just wanted to try something that felt a little fresh for us. And I think it turned out great.

Arienne, that puts all of the weight on your shoulders, both in terms of screen time and just emotional weight for Imani. What was it like for you to be at the center of the finale?

Arienne Mandi: It was honestly so much fun, but it was very heavy. Just the content… It’s hard to not let it blend into your own thoughts and life, and it’s a very complex situation that this character is faced with. And also, [it was] obviously such an honor to be able to wrap up the season.

It was so much fun. So divided on the work front, on this personal journey she has with her sister, and finding her sister and coming to terms with the fact that [Shari] has no idea who she is—there’s a lot of things to be dealt with.

Gwen, as you drill down into Imani’s journey not only individually but with the rest of the Intelligence Unit, has that given you new perspective on the existing Chicago PD characters? Are you also seeing them differently?

Sigan: Absolutely. It’s why it’s so fun to have a new character, because not only do you get to obviously write a new voice and write a new storyline, but how they perceive people is so different.

With Imani, the two that were probably the most fun is how she perceives Voight. The lack of sort of intimidation. She sort of fucks around with him in a way that I don’t think anyone else really does. She doesn’t know of his past, and that was super-fun. And then I think how she interacts with Torres is a little bit the same. He’s this kind of silent, a little unknowable guy, and yet we see in Episode 10 or something that she sort of calls him out—like, I’m here. I’m offering help. Just let me help. What is wrong with you? So it’s always fun. You definitely learn a lot about these people. And just having somebody that maybe doesn’t fit is really fun.

Arienne, you gave such a great performance in The Night Agent Season 2, which is a very similar show in tone, but Imani is a much more intense character than Noor. How would you compare the two?

Mandi: If someone just looks at The Night Agent as a whole, you think action, and then you look at Chicago PD, you think action. It’s similar in that sense. But my character had no action whatsoever in Night Agent, so very different in terms of what I got to explore.

I remember getting to my first day on set at PD and and I remember Chad [Saxton]—our director and also one of our producers—he said to me, [you have] free rein. The camera will follow you. You don’t have to hit a mark. We follow you. There’s like a free flow to the way we do things here, and there was a learning curve for me, but it was really fun and really different. So it was very different.

Chicago PD airs Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. Photo Credit: Courtesy of NBC.

Article content is (c)2020-2026 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.