NBC's One Chicago franchise is one of the most successful and popular franchises to ever grace the small screen. What started as a show about firefighters quickly evolved into an interconnected franchise that celebrates first responders working in the police and medical fields as well.
As of 2026, there are a total of 39 seasons of the One Chicago shows between Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, Chicago PD, and the short-lived Chicago Justice. Across those 39 seasons, there are nearly 700 episodes of television to enjoy, which makes the One Chicago franchise the perfect selection for those looking to dive into a new long-term binge-watching commitment.
Of course, if you're going to watch the One Chicago shows from the beginning, the question becomes, how do you do so? After all, like Rome, the One Chicago franchise was not built in a day, and the shows each started at different times, meaning there are certain seasons that take place before some of the shows even began.
How to watch Chicago Fire, PD, and Med in order (plus Chicago Justice)
If you want to watch just one show in the One Chicago franchise, it's easy to just start at the beginning and binge your way through the seasons. However, if you want to do a proper watch of the One Chicago shows from start to finish, it's a bit more complicated given that the shows did not begin in the same year and it took years before NBC put them all together on one night.
The best way to watch the One Chicago shows would be to start at the beginning and then, as the franchise expands, rotate between them by episode, watching episode 1 of each show, then episode 2, and so on. If you take this approach, here is the correct method to watch the shows from start to finish:
- Chicago Fire season 1
- Chicago Fire season 2, episodes 1-10. When you reach Chicago Fire season 2, episode 11, begin Chicago PD season 1 and rotate between episodes.
- Chicago Fire season 3 and Chicago PD season 2 (watch simultaneously, rotating between episodes)
- Chicago Fire season 4 and Chicago PD season 3 (watch simultaneously). When you reach episode 6 of both two shows, add Chicago Med season 1 to the rotation.
- Chicago Fire season 5, Chicago PD season 4, and Chicago Med season 2 (watch simultaneously in this order based on when they aired across NBC's schedule)
- Chicago Med season 3, Chicago PD season 5, and Chicago Fire season 6 (watch simultaneously in this order based on when they aired across NBC's schedule). Add Chicago Justice season 1 into the rotation after watching the 11th episode of Chicago Med, Fire, and PD.
At this point in your binge-watch, One Chicago Wednesdays were established with NBC airing all three shows on the same night rather than having them air on separate nights. This will make binging the seasons much easier as the seasons begin and end at the same time, and the episode orders for the three shows are cohesive moving forward.
Once you hit this stage in your binge, you'll want to rotate between the three shows' respective seasons, watching in the order of Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, and Chicago PD, watching the seasons in the following order:
- Chicago Med season 4, Chicago Fire season 7, Chicago PD season 6
- Chicago Med season 5, Chicago Fire season 8, Chicago PD season 7
- Chicago Med season 6, Chicago Fire season 9, Chicago PD season 8
- Chicago Med season 7, Chicago Fire season 10, Chicago PD season 9
- Chicago Med season 8, Chicago Fire season 11, Chicago PD season 10
- Chicago Med season 9, Chicago Fire season 12, Chicago PD season 11
- Chicago Med season 10, Chicago Fire season 13, Chicago PD season 12
- Chicago Med season 11, Chicago Fire season 14, Chicago PD season 13
How to watch the One Chicago crossovers in order
Now, there is also the aspect of how to watch the various One Chicago crossover events that have occurred through the years, which include crossovers between the One Chicago series as well as other Wolf Entertainment franchises. These crossovers didn't always follow the standard order for the shows, as NBC often would shuffle the schedule around depending on the storyline planned for the crossover event.
If you want to make sure to watch every One Chicago crossover episode in the correct order, here is the complete breakdown of every crossover from the franchise and how to watch them based on the order they aired!
- Law & Order: SVU season 15, episode 15 ("Comic Perversion") followed by Chicago PD season 1, episode 6 ("Conventions")
- Chicago Fire season 2, episode 20 ("A Dark Day") followed by Chicago PD season 1, episode 12 ("8:30 PM")
- Chicago Fire season 3, episode 7 ("Nobody Touches Anything") followed by Law & Order: SVU season 16, episode 7 ("Chicago Crossover") followed by Chicago PD season 2, episode 7 ("They'll Have to Go Through Me")
- Chicago Fire season 3, episode 13 ("Three Bells") followed by Chicago PD season 2, episode 13 ("A Little Devil Complex")
- Chicago Fire season 3, episode 21 ("We Called Her Jellybean") followed by Chicago PD season 2, episode 20 ("The Number of Rats") followed by Law & Order: SVU season 16, episode 20 ("Daydream Believer")
- Chicago Fire season 4, episode 10 ("The Beating Heart" followed by Chicago Med season 1, episode 5 ("Malignant"), followed by Chicago PD season 3, episode 10 ("Now I'm God")
- Law & Order: SVU season 17, episode 14 ("Nationwide Manhunt") followed by Chicago PD season 3, episode 14 ("The Song of Gregory William Yates")
- Chicago Fire season 5, episode 9 ("Some Make It, Some Don't") followed by Chicago PD season 4, episode 9 ("Don't Bury This Case")
- Chicago PD season 5, episode 16 ("Profiles") followed by Chicago Fire season 6, episode 13 ("Hiding Not Seeking")
- Chicago Fire season 7, episode 2 ("Going to War") followed by Chicago Med season 4, episode 2 ("When to Let Go"), followed by Chicago PD season 6, episode 2 ("Endings")
- Chicago Fire season 7, episode 15 ("What I Saw"), followed by Chicago PD season 6, episode 15 ("Good Men")
- Chicago Fire season 8, episode 4 ("Infection: Part I") followed by Chicago Med season 5, episode 4 (Infection: Part II"), followed by Chicago PD season 7, episode 4 ("Infection: Part III")
- Chicago Fire season 8, Episode 15 ("Off The Grid") followed by Chicago PD season 7, episode 15 ("Burden of Truth")
- Chicago Fire season 13, episode 11 ("In the Trenches Part I"), followed by Chicago Med season 10, episode 11 ("In the Trenches Part II"), followed by Chicago PD season 12, episode 11 ("In the Trenches Part III")
- Chicago Fire season 14, episode 13 ("Reckoning"), followed by Chicago Med season 11, episode 13 ("Reckoning II"), followed by Chicago PD season 13, episode 13 ("Reckoning III")
Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, and Chicago Med are streaming on Peacock.
Chicago Med showrunner hints we've seen the last of one of the show's most disliked characters
The final episodes of Chicago Med season 11 took an unexpectedly darker turn for Dr. John Frost as the season revisited his traumatic experiences growing up as a child actor and his rocky relationship with his parents, who failed to protect him. It all began when Frost’s parents, James and Celeste, showed up in town hoping to reconnect with their understandably estranged son.
Frost would eventually agree to meet with his parents, and he came to learn that his father’s health was in decline due to his MS diagnosis. As the season progressed, Frost would come to learn that his father was not suffering from MS, but rather he had a tumor on his spine which was causing MS-like symptoms. He’d also come to learn that his dad knew about the tumor but didn’t explore treatment out of fear.
By the time Frost found out the truth, his father was no longer eligible for a medical trial which could provide treatment designed to shrink the tumor. Despite their fractured relationship, Frost didn’t want to give up on his dad and agreed to sign on for a Nick of Time reboot series in order to make the money needed to pay for his father’s expensive treatment.
It was clear from the start that Frost did not want to return to acting, but it was a means to an end to make the money needed for his father’s treatment. He was all set to proceed with the project until the reboot’s producer surprised him at lunch with the news that Ainsley, the woman who played his mom on the show and took advantage of Frost as a teen, had been added to the cast.
Upon learning the news, Frost chose to walk away from the reboot which was when he’d come to find out that his father knew about his relationship with Ainsley and never stepped in to protect him. Instead, he turned a blind eye. This led to another fallout between Frost and his father, one that was short-lived as Frost would learn in the penultimate episode of the season that his dad’s treatments were not working and he’d been moved to hospice care.
The season finale saw Frost make peace with his father as he stayed with him through his final hours and remained at his side until his father passed as the finale came to a close.
Jessalyn Gilsig not expected to return for Chicago Med season 12
Needless to say, the back half of the season was particularly trying for Frost in many ways, but it was one that allowed the show to close the book on the past as the show focuses on how Frost will move forward. With the closing of this book, Chicago Med showrunner Allen MacDonald seemed to indicate that we’ve seen the last of a character that quickly became one of the show’s most disliked characters: Ainsley.
While you can truly never say never in the world of television, MacDonald appears to have all but confirmed we’ve seen the last of Ainsley on Chicago Med. In speaking with Parade following the finale, MacDonald noted that while they’ll always make reference to Frost’s past and to Nick of Time and Ainsley, specifically, they’ve closed the book on that—seeming to hint that while Ainsley might come up in conversation, she won’t be popping back up on the show directly.
“There’s a weight lifted off his shoulders. I think the past has always been something he’s run away from, that he thought he didn’t need to deal with it but it was actually weighing him down more because he wasn’t. We’ve spent the last two seasons with him slowly confronting the past and growing from the processing of it, and now I believe next season he’s going to move on,” MacDonald revealed. “There will be other challenges next season for Dr. John Frost, but as far as the past and Nick of Time and Ainsley, those are things we’ll always make reference to, but I feel like we’re closing the book on that, on the past, and now he’s going to move forward.”
As much as we love Jessalyn Gilsig, who was phenomenal in the role of Ainsley, it does make sense for her appearance in season 11, episode 19, “Exit Strategies," to serve as her final episode on the show.
Frost will surely continue to unpack the events of his past in the new season as he works on his relationship with his mom following his father’s death, but we don’t need to see Ainsley back again as it’s time the show began to allow Frost to reclaim his future and move forward. Thankfully, that seems to be the plan, and we’re certainly eager to see what season 12 will bring for Frost as he begins this new chapter in his story!
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