Chicago PD fans certainly miss Olinsky. We had a chance to see him back when Elias Koteas made a surprise cameo in the Season 11 finale, and now eyes are on whether he could be back in Chicago PD Season 12.
As a quick reminder, Koteas’s Al Olinsky was shockingly killed off in Season 5 of the series. Voight had killed Bingham out of revenge after Bingham killed his son Justin. However, Olinsky was the one arrested for it after his DNA was found on Bingham. Before anyone could prove it wasn’t him, he was stabbed in prison and died from his injuries.
The death was heartbreaking, and it is something that still sits with Voight to this day. At the end of Chicago PD Season 11, Voight was close to death when he had a vision of his fallen friend.
Could Olinsky help Voight in Chicago PD Season 12
While Voight has been able to handle the ordeals he’s been through in the past, there’s only so much one man can take. H was struggling with the guilt of not catching the serial killer earlier, and he felt guilt for feeling like he was pulling Upton down with him.
During the finale, Voight asked Upton if he was bad for her. Upton had her own baggage, and eventually, Voight encouraged her to go off and do something more with her life.
However, this doesn’t mean that Voight will just move on from everything that happened. While weakened by the serial killer, Voight hallucinated Olinsky. Is there a chance that he could hallucinate him again? Could this be a way to help him figure out what to do next as he finds someone new to join Intelligence and moves on from this tough serial killer case?
That would be the only way Olinsky could really return in Chicago PD Season 12. He hasn’t appeared to other characters since his death in Season 5, so it wouldn’t make sense to bring him in again. A return would depend on a realistic storyline to bring him back as a hallucination and Elias Koteas’s schedule, though. I wouldn’t count on it happening.