Chicago will have at least 10 scripted TV series filming in the city over the next year, the past week’s network upfront presentations have confirmed.
As widely expected, NBC has picked up the fourth series in the Dick Wolf–produced Chicago franchise. Chicago Justice joins Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med on the network’s slate. NBC announced the pickup on Thursday, the day after the “backdoor pilot” for Chicago Justice aired as an episode of P.D.
Fox has also announced series pickups for two new Chicago-filmed series to join Empire, which enters its third season this fall. The Exorcist, which stars Geena Davis and Alfonso Herrera in a new take on demonic possession, and A.P.B., which has Justin Kirk as a tech billionaire who privatizes a Chicago police precinct, both shot their pilots in the city, and the Chicago Film Office told the Tribune last week that the series will be based here as well.
In addition, the Wachowski siblings’ Netflix series Sense8 will film part of its second season in Chicago next month, and a new Amazon Prime series, Patriot, is also basing production here. With Shameless (which does partial location shooting in Chicago) renewed for a seventh season on Showtime and Wolf already teasing a potential fifth series in his NBC franchise, this adds up to an extraordinary amount of activity for Chicago crews and actors. Cinespace, the Douglas Park production studio where many of these series are based, is breaking ground this summer on an expansion, adding six new soundstages to its existing 24.
Watch newly released trailers for A.P.B. and The Exorcist below.
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