Perhaps concerned that he might be leading audiences to believe that Chicago is run entirely by emergency personnel, Dick Wolf recently added some law to his first-responder order in the Second City. The recently-renamed Chicago Justice will get underway with a spinoff episode on Chicago P.D. this season, which will introduce the lead prosecutor played by Strike Back’s Philip Winchester and possibly Nazneen Contractor’s (Heroes Reborn) Assistant State’s Attorney. And they’ll some help securing the evidence to prosecute the offenders via Justified’s Joelle Carter.
Now Deadline reports that Carl Weathers will add some gravitas—an ingredient as necessary to justice as a discarded bone for a good stew—to the proceedings as their boss. Weathers, who recently recurred on USA’s recently-renewed Colony, has been cast as State’s Attorney Mark Jefferies, the kind of “respected, grounded intellectual” needed to ensure that the law is applied equitably (though that description doesn’t necessarily bar him from picking up his latest automobile at a police auction). The Rocky actor’s casting was revealed at a PaleyFest tribute to Wolf, which could end up getting an addendum in another five years when the veteran TV producer will probably renew his deal with NBC.
