[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Chicago P.D. Season 11 Episode 5 “Split Second.”]
The members of Intelligence have had some tough cases over the years on Chicago P.D., and for Officer Kevin Atwater (LaRoyce Hawkins), the latest is one of those that’s going to stick with him.
In “Split Second,” during a robbery, a civilian is shot and bleeds out between a locked double door. Atwater is on scene and can’t find the key or any other way in. But at the end of the episode, he goes back to the store and discovers the key—under shattered glass—that would have allowed him to open the door and possibly save the victim.
“Yeah, that’s something I’m never going to forget,” Hawkins tells TV Insider. “Brian Luce, our tech advisor and a producer on the show—we consider him the heart and the soul of everything we do—is a former cop and tells us these stories all the time that stick with me specifically about how you have these faces that you never forget in the line of duty. Sometimes they’re faces that you couldn’t save, and those faces you go to bed with almost every night. And as time goes on, you feel less pressure and you give yourself more grace, but you never forget those faces. And Corey is going to be one of those faces for a fact.”
You might even see a glimpse of that staying with Atwater in the next episode. “There was a soft Easter egg that I created that you might be able to spot in 1106, and we’ll see if it’s seen,” Hawkins reveals. “It’s hard to say how the camera framed us, but there might be a very subtle hint of holding on that you’ll notice, and so I’m excited to see if some of the fans can catch it.” It’s in a scene with the whole team.
Looking ahead, Atwater’s leadership will be challenged. “His leadership and his role and his responsibility within the unit only grow, and that’s what Atwater is looking forward to,” Hawkins previews. “I’ve always done my best to be a bridge between not just the Black community, between the Black community and cops in general, but also a bridge within the unit, something like an invisible net that’s not intrusive at all, but I’m there if you need me. If you find yourself falling, trust me, I’ll catch you. And so those are the types of positions that I’m personally approaching everything with. So no matter what they give me, that’s going to be my approach, to be that bridge.”
We see that a bit with his work with Torres (Benjamin Levy Aguilar), the newest member of Intelligence, having joined last season. “That’s honestly one of my favorite relationships with the unit,” Hawkins shares.
We’ll also see Atwater step up and “do his best to protect” Sergeant Hank Voight (Jason Beghe), when it comes to seeing a bit of his old rage when the focus turns to the big bad of the season in a coming episode. “If I see Sarge getting a little too carried away, I’ll do my best to protect him. I think I respect him too much to stop him, but the more I can be there, not just as an officer, but even as a friend to him, I think Voight is included within that when I say that Atwater is the bridge and then an invisible net for his unit,” Hawkins explains. “Whatever Sarge needs, I’m going to have his back.”
Chicago P.D., Wednesdays, 10/9c, NBC
This story originally appeared on TV Insider
