Spoiler alert: The following article contains spoilers from the 2025 One Chicago crossover, “In the Trenches.”
The threeOne ChicagoTV shows —Chicago Fire,Chicago PD, andChicago Med— united in 2025’s “In the Trenches,” butthe event felt like a crossover between only two of the series.The three-hour episode began with a gas explosion at a government building, resulting in the NBC franchise’s firefighters, paramedics, doctors, nurses, and police officers coming together to save the day. They worked to rescue victims (including twobelovedOne Chicagocharacters trapped on a train) and investigate what caused the disaster.
New episodes ofOne Chicagoair on Wednesdays on NBC, withChicago Medat 8 pm ET,Chicago Fireat 9 pm ET, andChicago PDat 10 pm ET.
TheChicago PDseason 12 characterslearned that disgruntled employees targeted the building’s pension fund, stealing a drive containing $250 million. One was a security guard/former cop, while the others included a burn victim and a train passenger. Before this discovery,Chicago Fire’s Stella Kidd andChicago PD’s Adam Ruzek got stuck on a train underground.Kidd was trying to save the people inside and Ruzek was chasing a masked suspect when the tunnel collapsed. They were eventually rescued, meaning the 2025 crossover didn’t take any prominentOne Chicagocharacters' lives. However, it did ignore a significant portion of them.
Chicago Med Has Overtaken Chicago Fire As One Chicago’s Top-Rated Series
The Medical Drama Is Performing The Best Out Of All 3 Shows
Despite statistically being the bestshow in theOne Chicagouniverse,Chicago Med’s characters were severely mishandled in the 2025 crossover. According toTV Series Finale, the medical drama is outperformingChicago FireandChicago PDduring the 2024–2025 season.It’s averaging 5.783 million viewers per episodeas of the writing of this article. Meanwhile,ChicagoFire’s average viewership is 5.684 andChicagoPD’s is 4.571, both down from the 2023–2024 TV season.
Darren Barnet
Dr. John Frost
For many years,Chicago Firehad the highest ratingsout ofall theOne ChicagoTV shows, followed byChicago Medand thenChicago PD. Now, though the third series in the franchise is on top. Even afterChicago Med’s success, though, the crossover still pushed its characters to the side and zeroed in on figures from the other two shows.
Chicago Med FINALLY Finished A Heartbreaking Cliffhanger After 7 Years
It took seven years, but Chicago Med season 10, episode 9 finally finished a storyline that it left unresolved at the start of season 4.
The 2025 One Chicago Crossover Underused Chicago Med & Its Characters
“In the Trenches” Focused More On Fire & PD
Throughout 2025’sOne Chicagocrossover,Chicago Medseason 10’s characterswere more like extras than significant pieces in the plot.Every character whose life was at stake (Ruzek, Kidd, and Trudy) came from eitherChicago FireorChicago PD,and people from both series were at the forefront of the rescue and investigation. Meanwhile, the doctors and nurses were simply there to tend to the wounded. Frost, Weber, and Lenox had a handful of significant scenes. However, they never spearheaded any story. For a show that’s gaining momentum in the ratings, theOne Chicagocrossover should’ve prioritizedChicago Med’s characters.
One Chicago
Developed by Derek Haas and Michael Brandt, One Chicago is a multi-series television franchise that combines various public service/government organizations in Chicago, Illinois. Each series shares a timeline and universe, with multiple characters crossing over occasionally. The One Chicago universe began with Chicago Fire in 2012, with P.D., Med, and Justice comprising the remainder of one of NBC’s most successful primetime franchises.
