Hollywood Life | Patrick Flueger

Are things ever going to get easier for Ruzek? HollywoodLife.com talked EXCLUSIVELY with the ‘Chicago P.D.’ star about what’s next after those jaw-dropping twists in the Jan. 3 episode.

Ruzek (Patrick John Flueger) is alive, but that was a close one. As we saw in the fall finale, Voight (Jason Beghe) discovered that Ruzek is mole within the unit. Things could have taken a very different turn for Ruzek, but Voight knows that Ruzek is a good guy and a good cop at heart. Instead, Voight and Ruzek team up to try and take down Woods, the man who’s been blackmailing Ruzek all this time. HollywoodLife.com got the chance to talk EXCLUSIVELY with Patrick ahead of the show’s return about Ruzek’s next steps after this close call.

“It’s going to be certainly a long road and an uphill battle back into the good graces of Voight and more acutely, Olinsky,” Patrick tellsHollywoodLife.com. “Olinsky takes it really hard because he’s the one that brought Ruzek into the unit. He’s said that he’s always thought of Ruzek as a son, and I think he means it. Within the unit, we always know that we’ve got each other, and it’s really rattling when even that gets shook.”

The fall finale definitely left Ruzek’s fate up in the air. Thankfully, Patrick knew going into this storyline that Ruzek was going to make it out alive. “It was the first question I asked,” Patrick says. “When I found out that they were going to make me a snitch, the last guy that started snitching was Jin from the first season. We use Jin as a verb now: jinned. Because Jin died. For a long time you thought it was Voight, which it wasn’t. My first question to [showrunner] Rick Eid was, ‘Are you killing me off?’ To which he promptly said, ‘No.’ To be honest, I didn’t really totally believe him. I’m glad he was telling me the truth.”

Nothing will ever be the same for Ruzek, Voight, and Olinsky (Elias Koteas). However, Patrick believes this situation will change Ruzek’s relationships with Voight and Olinsky “for the better on some level.” He adds, “I put my loyalty on display pretty boldly. The fact that I was so far gone and came back really highlights Ruzek’s loyalty.” As for the other challenges in Ruzek’s life, Patrick teases that things are going to get “incredibly personal.” He reveals: “I think he and Burgess, they’ve got that on-again, off-again, back and forth situation going on. I think his challenges will be more personal. If we’re going to talk challenges, they’re going to be incredibly personal, whether that’s with Burgess and with his best friend and partner, Atwater. Season 5 has been a lot more personal, and I think it’s going to continue to be that way for all of the characters.”

Source