'The Night Agent's Creator Made a 100% RT Crime Show That Was Completely Overlooked

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Matt Lauria and Jason Clarke staring ahead in The Chicago Code

Published Mar 13, 2026, 6:11 AM EDT

Jen Vestuto is a TV Features Writer for Collider. A born and raised New Yorker, she started her career on set as a production assistant for shows like Law & Order: SVU and Person of Interest. In LA, she worked in the writers' rooms for The Vampire Diaries and Nancy Drew. Along with her writing partner, she joined the writing staff of Nancy Drew in Season 2 and stayed on the run of the show, which ended in 2022 with Season 4.

Jen grew up on Long Island in a loud Italian family. She's been writing creatively since she was in elementary school and would often make her younger sister act out scenes from her favorite movies with her. Jen is also a massive sports fan and was an athlete herself growing up.

Writing features for Collider gives her the opportunity to share her passion for great storytelling and compelling characters.

Long before Shawn Ryan created the global Netflix hit The Night Agent, he had already established himself as one of television’s most compelling voices in crime dramas. Ryan first broke through with The Shield, the groundbreaking FX series that helped redefine what gritty police storytelling could look like on television. But in 2011, he returned with a very different project that combined the scope of a political drama with the structure of a traditional police procedural.

What Is 'The Chicago Code' About?

The Chicago Code centers on Detective Jarek Wysocki (Jason Clarke), a blunt, well-respected Chicago police officer who has spent years navigating the city’s complicated web of crime and corruption — a sharp contrast to The Shield’s Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis). When the series begins, Wysocki is recruited by the newly-elected Superintendent of Police and his former partner, Teresa Colvin (Jennifer Beals), who is determined to clean up corruption within both the police department and Chicago’s political establishment. Colvin believes Wysocki’s deep understanding of the city, and his willingness to bend the rules when necessary, makes him the perfect ally in that fight.

Much of the show’s tension comes from Wysocki’s pursuit of Alderman Ronin Gibbons (Delroy Lindo), a powerful and charismatic politician who may be deeply connected to the corruption Colvin is trying to dismantle. At the same time, the series explores the day-to-day work of the Chicago police force through Wysocki’s partner, Detective Caleb Evers (Matt Lauria), a younger officer still learning to navigate the realities of the job. That combination of compelling characters, political intrigue, and procedural storytelling gave The Chicago Code a sense of scale that was unusual for a network police drama at the time.

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Ryan’s connection to Chicago helped ground the series in a strong sense of place. Unlike many procedurals that treat their settings as interchangeable backdrops, The Chicago Code made the city itself central to the story, from its neighborhoods and political traditions to the complicated relationships between law enforcement and local power brokers. The show also arrived years before the One Chicago franchise would dominate NBC, making it one of the earliest modern dramas to fully explore the city’s identity on screen. Despite strong reviews and a rare 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes, FOX cancelled the show after just 13 episodes, cutting short what felt like the beginning of a much larger story and a showcase for an incredibly talented ensemble cast.

'The Chicago Code's Biggest Strength Was Its Incredible Cast

Talk about an embarrassment of riches when looking at the cast of The Chicago Code. Many of these actors were already building strong careers in television and film, but seeing what they’ve done since makes the ensemble even more impressive in hindsight. Jason Clarke delivers a magnetic performance as Jarek Wysocki, making him funny, stubborn, vulnerable, and incredibly likable. Clarke would go on to become a major presence in both film and television, but his work here already shows the charisma that makes him such a compelling lead.

Jennifer Beals brings equal strength to the role of Superintendent Teresa Colvin, portraying a woman navigating both the pressures of leadership and the realities of policing Chicago. Matt Lauria, coming off his breakout role in Friday Night Lights, gives the show an emotional center as Caleb Evers, whose partnership with Wysocki allows the series to explore both mentorship and tension within the job. And then there’s legendary actor Delroy Lindo, whose performance as Alderman Ronin Gibbons is both charismatic and quietly menacing. Lindo, now an Academy Award nominee for Sinners, reveals just enough about Gibbons’ ambitions and secrets to make him one of the show’s most compelling antagonists.

Looking back now, it’s striking how many members of the ensemble would go on to lead major projects of their own. Clarke, Beals, Lauria, and Lindo have all headlined significant films and television series in the years since, underscoring Shawn Ryan’s clear eye for talent. Given Ryan’s success with The Shield on FX, it’s hard not to wonder if The Chicago Code might have thrived more on a grittier cable home instead of being frustratingly cancelled after just 13 episodes. Still, more than a decade later, it remains one of the most underrated police dramas of the 2010s, and a short but incredibly satisfying binge.