There is no doubt that Antonio Dawson is one of the Chicago PD characters we would love to see return to the series. Jon Seda helped to start up the series, with his character coming into Chicago Fire season 1 to establish a rapport with the potential fans. Then he went into Chicago Justice season 1 to attempt the same thing.
With Chicago Justice shockingly canceled after just one season, Dawson returned to work with Intelligence, but his return wasn’t for long. He was written out of the series more permanently at the end of season 6, but why?
Antonio Dawson’s original exit from Chicago PD explained
Dawson was one of those beloved characters, showing up initially in Chicago Fire season 1. He quickly made it clear that he wouldn’t accept any of Hank Voight’s policing ways, even helping to put Voight behind bars in Chicago Fire before Voight was able to score a release and a promotion with the new task force set up.
As Voight’s No. 2, Dawson was able to help develop a team that put the people of Chicago first. It wasn’t that surprising then to find out that Dawson would be picked as the man to move from Chicago PD to Chicago Justice, meaning that the character was missing for the whole of season 5.
Seda’s character was picked to be the lead officer for the Cook County State Attorney’s office. As Justice was canceled after one season, he was brought back to PD, where he shared that the job was too tedious for his liking.
Why Dawson left Chicago PD after season 6
However, he didn’t stick around for much longer. In fact, Chicago PD season 6 would be his last in the universe, and it all started with an injury that Dawson sustained in the third hour of the season. Like a Severide storyline in Chicago Fire, Dawson ended up not disclosing that his injury was still bothering him and he started to abuse prescription painkillers.
Dawson went a step further, though, becoming hooked on the painkillers and even working with a drug dealer to offer the man protection in return for drugs. When Dawson failed to follow through with the protection and the drug dealer was arrested, he sought revenge and went after Dawson’s daughter.
Dawson pushed the drug dealer out of a window in front of Voight, shocking Voight and making it clear that he was high on pills at the time. Voight and Ruzek then came up with a story that would see Ruzek take the heat for the incident and give Dawson time to seek help, but as an Internal Affairs investigation looked into the death, Dawson struggled to stick to the story.
He ended up relapsing, and we last saw him in the Chicago PD season 6 finale. In the season 7 premiere, Voight shared that he had taken Dawson to a rehabilitation center, and then in episode 3, we learned that he had resigned and moved to Puerto Rico. In Chicago Fire season 8, Gabby Dawson would return with an update that shared he was doing well and now working with the same humanitarian group that she was with.
Why did Jon Seda leave Chicago PD?
The first time, Seda agreed to the move. It was a great chance to set up another show in the universe, but it failed.
The second exit was not something Seda really wanted, and it was due to his contract not being renewed. This led to a creative storyline for an exit for the character. Seda hasn’t returned to the series since, but he was involved in the NBC series La Brea.
Chicago PD airs on Wednesdays at 10/9c on NBC. Catch up on the series on Peacock.
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