One of the stars of Chicago Police announced a surprise leave of the stricken police procedural. Patrick John Flueger will take a break after playing against Adam Ruzek in the current season.

Deadline announced that Flueger would be leaving the show to attend to a personal matter. He is expected to return later in the season. His departure from the NBC drama was unexpected and the series’ scripts are being reworked to reflect Ruzek’s absence, according to Deadline. Sources say the leave is coming “because Fleuger has been going through a difficult time personally, with a case of drinking on set.”

Flueger has played Officer Adam Ruzek since his premiere in 2014. His character was recruited straight out of the academy to do undercover work and is often presented as an overenthusiastic officer who acts impulsively. As the series progressed, the character became engaged to fellow actor Kim Burgess (Marina Squerciati), and the two eventually married at the end of the series’ season 12 finale.

Season 13 of Chicago Police began airing October 1 on NBC and only three episodes have aired to date. Flueger’s temporary absence comes early in the season, and it remains to be seen exactly how the show will handle his sudden departure. The fourth episode of season 13, “Root Cause,” will air October 22, and it was not immediately clear how many episodes Fleuger had already filmed before stepping away from filming.

Flueger’s leave isn’t the only upheaval that’s having an impact Chicago PoliceThe new season of. In June, it was revealed that series regular Toya Turner, who had joined the cast as Kiana Cook in season 12, would not be returning. Arienne Mandi (The Night Agent) was later cast as a replacement character to help round out the cast. With Ruzek being one of the original characters, his temporary absence will leave a much bigger void to fill.

Chicago PD Season 13 Had Major Plans for Ruzek and Burgess

Image via NBC

The current broadcast Chicago Police The season recently kicked things off with a bang, also seeing some pretty major shake-ups in the story. A time jump occurred, coming a month after the climactic season 12 finale, which saw the series lose one of its characters and the disbandment of the Chicago police intelligence unit. “No one thrives. Some do better than others,” shared showrunner Gwen Sigan. “Voight is trying not to lose his mind. As we see in the first episode, he’s doing his best to stay calm, face his consequences and do the right thing. And we’ll see how that goes.”

The showrunner also revealed big plans for Ruzek and Burgess – but it remains to be seen how things will change after Flueger steps back. “They’re kind of in that honeymoon phase, they’re still very excited about the wedding and happy together,” Sigan said. “Their lives are a little more complicated at the moment with work, but they’re both very strong and happy together and that’s something we want to continue to look at: now you’re married, you have this big family unit, but what’s next?”

New episodes of Chicago Police airs Wednesdays on NBC.

Release date

January 8, 2014

Showrunner

Derek Haas

Directors

Nick Gomez, Eriq La Salle, Carl Seaton, Fred Berner, Vincent Misiano, Bethany Rooney, Rohn Schmidt, Sanford Bookstaver, John Hyams, Nicole Rubio, Terry Miller, Takashi Doscher, Brenna Malloy, Lisa Robinson, Marc Roskin, Charles S. Carroll, David Rodriguez, Holly Dale, John Polson, Lin Oeding, Mykelti Williamson, Paul McCrane, Alik Sakharov, Charlotte Brändström

Writers

Craig Gore, Tim Walsh, Timothy J. Sexton, Mike Weiss, Mo Masi, Tiller Russell, Eduardo Javier Canto, Jamie Pachino, Mike Batistick, Cole Maliska, John Dove, Tiffany Bratcher, David Hoselton, Maisha Closson, Kim Rome, Katherine Visconti, Daniel Arkin, Todd Robinson, David Rambo, Denitria Harris-Lawrence, Mick Betancourt, Bryan Gracia

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  Marina Squerciati

  Kim Burgess