The latest recruit for Intelligence in Chicago PD season 10 makes Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer) and his team look stupid. NBC's Chicago-set police procedural is gearing for its decade-capper year, and with that comes new surprises for fans. That includes bringing in another member of Hank Voight's (Jason Beghe) Intelligence team who could help them take on more cases and make the city safer.
While Intelligence has kept the majority of its members intact throughout Chicago PD's run thus far, the Dick Wolf-produced series has also had some casting changes over the years. Voight's team experienced significant losses, including the departures of Erin Lindsay (Sophia Bush) and Antonio Dawson (Jon Seda), to name a few. It has been a couple of years since Intelligence brought in a fresh face, and that will finally happen in Chicago PD season 10 as the squad expands its roster with one new member.
When Chicago PD season 10 returns, Voight will welcome a new member in Officer Dante Torres. Played by Benjamin Levy Aguilar, the character first appeared as a guest star in season 9 as a recruit who has a complicated past. Despite his less-than-ideal background, he has proven that he is committed to joining the Force. This problem is that Aguilar has already played a different character in the Dick Wolf-produced procedural. In the Chicago PD season 7 premiere, the actor portrayed Franco Chavaro — one of the suspected killers of newly-elected Brian Kelton (John C. McGinley). It’s so odd that Intelligence, specifically Halstead, who led the operation against Chavaro, doesn’t recognize how much he and Torres look alike. Because Voight and his team are highly trained to notice even the most minor details to crack the case, he or anyone else from the squad should have at least made this observation to smooth over Aguilar's jarring dual casting.
Why Benjamin Aguilar Plays Two Characters In Chicago PD
In terms of narrative, there isn't any connection between Torres and Chavaro - meaning Aguilar playing them both is nothing but a casting coincidence. In Chicago PD season 10’s narrative, Torres and Chavaro are two different people. Otherwise, it would be a big problem if Intelligence missed the connection between the pair, and the characters could not be more different from each other. While Chavaro continues to have some illegal dealings in Chicago, Torres comes from the Force's training camp and has an imperfect past, but is working hard to get and stay on the right path by joining the Force. At this point, it's unlikely that NBC will try to connect them to justify one actor portraying different roles in the same show.
It's unknown why NBC decided to cast Aguilar again in Chicago PD knowing that he previously played a different character. It may simply be due to his acting abilities, not to mention his chemistry with Voight and Halstead, as well as the rest of Intelligence. In any case, it shouldn't be a problem moving forward; and may eventually be seen as a welcome development as it has been a while since Intelligence got a new member, let alone someone directly pulled from the training pool.