The One Chicago franchise, including Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, and most notably, Chicago PD, which will be fashioned as Chicago PD

hereafter, will all be returning in the Fall of 2025. That’s good news for fans, who are excited to see how the prior narrative threads and

cliffhangers are resolved, as network television continues to fight for more viewers. The stakes have very much been raised, which means

 

 

there may be more heartbreaking disappearances on the horizon, as long-term characters end up leaving the show, to ensure that there is always tension hanging over every scene. Chicago One has always stood out, due to its dramatic storytelling and compelling ensemble, and when those things intertwine and the ensemble’s lives are changed forever, fans are usually hit hard.

Alvin Olinsky was first introduced to the Chicago Fire team back in Season 2, Episode 9. Titled ‘You Will Hurt Him,’ the 2013 episode served as a great introduction to Al, who would then go on to have a firm part to play in Chicago PD. Alvin would also appear in an episode of Chicago Justice in 2017, three episodes of Chicago Med between 2016 and 2018, and 107 episodes of Chicago PD from 2014 until, unfortunately, 2024. That, of course, surpasses his four appearances as the character on Chicago Fire, despite it being the very show that he first debuted on!

 

 

All good things must come to an end though, and that 2024 date did mark the final appearance of Al in Chicago One, as a reoccurring character. Indeed, Chicago PD would mark the last time he starred in any one of those shows, and there is a critical reason for that. Because Al made a surprise appearance in 2024, but only as an apparition, in the mind of another character, rather than in the flesh. That’s because the character was sadly killed off all the way back in Season 5, Episode 22, “Homecoming.” Season 5 launched in 2014, meaning there was a 10-year gap between Al’s involvement in the series.

But Al’s death was particularly tragic because of the way in which it was staged. The character had been placed in prison after being framed for a murder he hadn’t committed. He was set to be put on trial, in front of his peers, in an old trope that works wonders within this genre. The DNA found at the scene was supposedly his, but it was his friend who had actually been involved in the dastardly act. Al cared too much for the killer, Hank Voight, and refused to name him as the true suspect. But that loyalty took an ugly turn, with Al stabbed to death inside the prison by another inmate.