One of Chicago PD's early star characters, Alvin Olinsky, had an impressive impact on the series before he left the story.
Elias Koteas starred in Chicago PD's first five seasons as Senior Detective Alvin Olinsky, an experienced undercover officer who worked in the Gang Unit and in Italy.
Often partnered with Adam Ruzek (Patrick Flueger) and Kim Burgess (Marina Squerciati), he worked closely with Sergeant Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) as the show leader's right-hand man.
Al's Exit From Chicago PD Explained
Following the death of Justin Voight (Sergeant Hank Voight's son) in Chicago PD Season 3, Al Olinsky and the team sought to bring him to justice. However, after Voight killed him and made him dig his own grave, things took a dark turn for Olinksy.
Chicago police found the murderer's body in Season 5 and performed an autopsy on the corpse, leading them to find Olinsky's DNA on it.
A grand jury indicted the longtime detective and charged him with second-degree murder and felony concealment of a homicide before he was taken to jail. Confident in his innocence, he was willing to take the fall for his team and complete his jail time, even though he was denied bail before his trial.
However, as he went back to his cell alone, an inmate charged at Olinsky and stabbed him multiple times in the abdomen before running away. The next episode sees him succumb to those injuries, leading to his end on the show.
Surprisingly, Al Olinsky recently returned to Chicago PD in a guest appearance during the Season 11 finale. After Voight is held captive and stabbed, leading to him bleeding out, he sees a hallucination of Olinsky in the distance, who asks him what he got himself into.
Why Did Al Actor Leave Chicago PD?
According to Chicago PD showrunner Rick Eid, Al Olinsky's death was used purely to advance storytelling.
Speaking with US Magazine in May 2018, once Vought and his ex-partner Danny Woods started fighting, the floodgates opened creatively for plotlines. Ultimately, Voight killing Kevin Bingham (his son's murderer) had to "cost him something" and bring consequences, leading to the idea to kill off Olinsky:
"It just evolved from a storytelling perspective. Once we started down the road of Woods and Voight going at each other, Bingham’s body being recovered and Olinsky’s DNA being found on that body, we started playing it out to its creative, dramatic conclusion, it just felt like an interesting way to wrap up that storyline. I think the real creative idea behind it all was that we felt like Voight killing Bingham needed to ultimately, cost him something. There needed to be a consequence to what he did. We thought that possibly losing his best friend became this interesting idea that we all gravitated toward. We could see this long arc playing out in that direction."
Eid also admitted how hard it was to tell Koteas about his character's death, calling the moment "brutal because Elias is a great guy, a terrific actor."
The decision to kill him off was also only made "probably a week before [they] started shooting that episode," making it even more of a challenge to push through:
"So it was a hard decision because we all really liked it creatively – it just felt like there was honesty to the story telling that we all got excited about – then came the practical reality of 'Wait, he’s one of our favorite characters and one of our favorite actors and favorite people in real life.' All that stuff was just really hard. I think we finally all got on the same page and said, 'Wow we’re really gonna do this,' probably a week before we started shooting that episode. It was truly just one of those things that just evolved from storytelling and at the end of 20 'What If’s,' everybody kept coming back to this idea of how this would impact Voight."
Explaining further to TVLine in May 2018, Eid emphasized how hard the decision was while praising Koteas for taking the news "like a true professional" and committing to the craft:
"From a business perspective, however, this was an extremely difficult decision. Elias is a terrific actor and a good person. He’s also been an important part of the show since the very beginning. So this part of the process was really challenging. But Elias handled the news like a true professional and remained committed to the show and his character until the final shot. We will miss him dearly."
Chicago PD is streaming on Peacock.
Read more about the Chicago franchise below:
Chicago PD: Here's Why Jay Left the Show
Is Boden Leaving Chicago Fire? The Chief's Future on the Show, Revealed
