Rumors have been circulating that another “Chicago Fire” spinoff — this one, set in a hospital — could be headed to NBC, given the solid performance of Dick Wolf’s Chicago-filmed firehouse drama and its sister show, “Chicago P.D.”
I asked NBC Entertainment Chair Robert Greenblatt on Saturday whether a “Chicago” hat-trick is in the offing.
“We’re going to take it one year at a time,” Greenblatt said after his presentation at the Television Critics Association summer press tour.
“There are going to be some medical characters you’re going to see – you’ve already seen a bit of a tease with them,” Greenblatt said, referring to folks like Dylan Baker, a doctor who had quite a bit of screen time last season in the “Chicago Fire” episode “A Dark Day,” where a hospital blew up.
“If we step back and think there’s another franchise there, we’ll do it,” he said. “But it’s not something we’re actively focusing on at the moment.”
Showrunner Matt Olmstead said that if a medical-themed spinoff were to happen, it would come about much the same way “Chicago P.D.” did.
“We brought ‘P.D.’ characters [Jon Seda’s Det. Antonio Dawson and Jason Beghe’s Lt. Hank Voight] up in ‘Fire’ with no intention of spinning them off,” Olmstead said. “The right things kind of happened and then that conversation happened. We have a hospital we go to and characters we go to in service of both shows. If Bob Greenblatt came to Dick Wolf and said, ‘What about a medical show?’ I’m sure Dick Wolf would take that phone call.”
As for how much life is left in another Dick Wolf series, “Law & Order: SVU,” Greenblatt showed no signs of fatigue on the drama that will enter its 16th season in the fall.
“They’re still telling great stories,” Greenblatt said, adding that ratings grew 20 percent last year. “That was really encouraging. It’s still one of the best.”
