LaRoyce Hawkins leaving Chicago PD is more than just another TV cast change, because Kevin Atwater is so important to the NBC show. It goes beyond Atwater being a fan-favorite or an original cast member. It’s about Atwater, as LaRoyce Hawkins so wonderfully played him, being the soul of the series.

Deadline Hollywood has broken the news that Hawkins will exit Chicago PD during the upcoming Season 14, with producers looking to cast another Black actor to fill his spot in the ensemble. This isn’t entirely a shock, since Atwater’s current storyline seemed set up for a potential departure—with him striking up a romance with Tasha Fox (guest star Karen Obilom) which quickly led to Tasha’s pregnancy. Between that and Tasha motivating Kevin to think about what he wanted out of life, there was a clear endgame, yet it still seemed impossible to think about Chicago PD without Atwater.

That’s because LaRoyce Hawkins has been one of the cornerstones of the show for roughly a decade and a half. An entire TV show is lucky to last that long, let alone an actor staying that long, such as Brian Dietzen on NCIS. But Chicago PD has multiple original cast members still around. And within that group, Hawkins quickly carved out a unique niche. Atwater is a fan-favorite character because of the qualities Hawkins brought to him: warmth, empathy and a focus on community. These are elements uncommon in the crime drama genre, but that stand out particularly in the grim, harsh world of Chicago PD.

Kevin Atwater was the one Chicago PD character who expanded the series’ worldview into different—and important—ideas of what it means to be a cop. Through him there was an angle of community policing, not just chasing and arresting the bad guys. Atwater was the one most likely to care about the effects of a case on ordinary people, be they literal, social or political. He was given most of the series’ race-related storylines and carried them admirably, but he wasn’t defined by being a Black officer who deserves to be Detective by now. When the show truly focused on Atwater, it got to explore other topics such as trying to be both older brother and surrogate parent (through his relationships with his siblings), giving back to the community (in several plots like his overseeing the apartment building), and the definition of growth (as he and his father worked on their relationship). These were dimensions that other crime shows just didn’t go to, and if they did, it wasn’t very often.

Unfortunately, that well-rounded exploration of being both a police officer and a member of the community was simplified down over the seasons. It began when the writers sent Jordan and Vinessa Atwater out of state and then largely forgot about them. Audiences didn’t get to spend enough time with Erik LeRay Harvey as Lew Atwater, either. And there were several attempts at giving Kevin a romantic life, yet his relationships were never fully developed. Even his current dynamic with Tasha has felt rushed, between her leaving for Miami, then returning to reveal she’s pregnant and actually doesn’t like Miami after all. Given that there have been less directions to take Atwater in, it’s not a shock that the character’s journey is coming to an end. But in his time on Chicago PD, there were several different ideas that were uniquely Kevin Atwater. And those ideas, as well as his warm, welcoming presence, helped to balance out all the hard, tragic things the other characters had to deal with.

That uniqueness is why LaRoyce Hawkins leaving Chicago PD isn’t simply a cast turnover. Deadline’s report claims that in addition to looking for another Black actor, the early description of the new character is an “agent of chaos.” Now, that description can certainly change between now and whenever the character arrives—presumably in the middle of Season 14 so they can be introduced to the audience before joining the Intelligence Unit. But that phrase sounds like any other character on a cop show. Particularly this cop show, which is all about operating outside the lines.

It also sounds like the exact opposite of Atwater, which is fair (the show doesn’t want to create an Atwater clone), but leads to a bigger question about the series as a whole: what happens to those great qualities he brought that Chicago PD needs? Do the writers give more humanistic stories to someone like Dante Torres, who’s already shown a big heart of his own? That might be good for Torres, since he’s been on a very long roller coaster of angst and deserves an upswing. What the creative team can’t do is forget about these ideas altogether. If Chicago PD wants to tell realistic stories about being a cop in Chicago, then it has to make its characters feel like part of the community—not just police officers who happen to live in Chicago.

Which brings this article to the last, and most important, intangible: that LaRoyce Hawkins was one of the biggest examples of the One Chicago community that the franchise has built and promoted over all these years. Anyone who’s gotten to meet him knows how warm, approachable and thoughtful he is; he brought all those things to Atwater. He’s also an Illinois native, born in a suburb of Chicago. He’s been an incredible representative of this franchise, and it won’t be the same without him. At least viewers can look forward to where he goes next, as he’s already branched out more recently, with a recurring role on Ironheart and that surprising guest spot on Power Book IV: Force. He shouldn’t be off TV screens for long.

LaRoyce Hawkins leaving Chicago PD is sad news because he’s a fan-favorite and an original cast member. But it’s even more important because he brought something special to the One Chicago fandom, and his character Kevin Atwater brought something unique to Chicago PD that elevated the entire show. The series will hopefully find another great Black actor to join the cast, and give that person a strong character. But there’s only one LaRoyce Hawkins, and no character will ever quite compare to everything that Kevin Atwater was able to do.

Chicago PD airs Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m. 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.