Sophia Bush‘s exit from Chicago P.D. rocked the One Chicago franchise but is there a chance she could return in the future?
Bush, 44, became a household name after playing Brooke Davis in the teen drama One Tree Hill, which ran from 2003 to 2012. Chicago P.D. marked her first TV role after OTH came to an end with Bush being cast as Erin Lindsay in the police procedural one year later.
After three seasons, Bush shocked viewers in 2017 when she chose to exit the show. She later hinted at a toxic set and abusive behavior from a costar, whom she didn’t name.
“I don’t have to give everyone the specific breakdown of exactly why I left until I’m ready to do that. But, the overarching theme for me was that I landed my dream job. I landed this job that, since I was 20 years old and trying to become an actor, I said I wanted. And aspects of it, don’t get me wrong, were wonderful,” she said on Refinery 29’s “UnStyled” podcast in 2017. “It was then that I realized I’d been drowning. It was then that I knew just how miserable I was going to work every day.”
News broke at the time that Bush’s costar Jason Beghe, who notably portrayed Sergeant Hank Voight on the hit show, was previously investigated by NBC for volatile behavior and offensive comments.
“I am deeply sorry for my behavior, which I know has been hurtful to my friends and colleagues,” he said in a 2017 statement. “I have struggled with anger issues for some time, and over the past year, I have been working with a coach to help me learn how to mitigate my temper. It’s an ongoing process, and it has been a humbling one. It is a source of great pride for me to be part of Chicago P.D.’s incredible cast and crew. I have personally apologized to anyone who I have upset, and I am committed to doing what is necessary to make up any damage that I may have caused.”
Bush hasn’t returned to Chicago P.D. since her character was written off. Instead, Bush returned to TV with a lead role in the short-lived series Good Sam, which aired on CBS in 2022. She also had roles in Love, Victor and Grey’s Anatomy — in addition to various movie roles.
The actress also remained booked and busy with a One Tree Hill rewatch podcast, which paved the way for other projects such as her 2026 memoir, And I Will Tell You Mine: Notes From a Life in Progress. In the book, Bush hinted why she hasn’t fully spoken out about her time on Chicago P.D. while making it clear there were no plans of a return.
“There are 200 people that I care very much about, whose jobs are the lifeline for their families. It’s not my place to choose when to speak for other people who aren’t ready and might not ever be,” she told Variety in October 2026 about which parts of her story she wrote about in her memoir. “That’s part of the reason it took us so long after Wilmington. It takes people a lot of time, and I think that’s okay. I think this reaction that women aren’t allowed to speak after a certain amount of time is so strange.”
Bush hinted that her memoir had “an investigative reporting version” about her time on Chicago P.D., explaining to Entertainment Weekly, “What I realized was the most important thing I could offer anyone was how I processed something for myself, how I actually came to terms with admitting how deep that imprint went — that was actually the worst one of my life for me.”
