‘Chicago P.D.’ Boss & Arienne Mandi Explain Imani’s Twisted Reunion With Her Sister

Imani (Arienne Mandi) doesn’t get anything near the family reunion she’d hoped for on Chicago P.D. In fact, it’s downright heartbreaking how it plays out in the Season 13 finale. TV Insider spoke with Mandi and showrunner Gwen Sigan about that ending and more. Warning: Spoilers for the Chicago P.D. Season 13 finale ahead!

Imani spends the episode trying to get her sister, Shari, to remember who she is to her. But Shari refuses — and even once she does seem to, it’s a ruse to get back to Kirby, the man who kidnapped her, raised her as her adoptive father, and is now her husband. In fact, Imani defies Voight’s (Jason Beghe) orders to bring Shari in to go after Kirby with just Shari, as her sister requests. What Imani doesn’t know at this point is that Voight has found evidence that it was Shari, not Kirby, who killed a victim.

Kirby orders Shari to kill Imani, and Shari does take the shot, but the officer fights back in time so that the bullet doesn’t hit her. In the end, it’s Voight, using a door, who kills Kirby, while Shari tries to stop him. Imani, in her report, however, says it was Kirby who attacked her. But she then finds that Shari used the handcuffs around her wrists to cut herself, and Intelligence rushes her to the hospital. Shari survives, but Voight alerts Imani in the final scene to the murder she committed. What’s going to happen next?! Will Shari be charged with murder?

Below, Arienne Mandi and showrunner Gwen Sigan break down the finale and tease Season 14.

Gwen, can you talk about having this really dark ending for Imani when it comes to her sister? She found her, but Shari doesn’t remember her. She killed someone, tried to kill her, tried to kill herself…

Gwen Sigan: Yeah, I think we always love the idea of getting the thing that you wanted, but it’s not what you imagined. And I think that was perfectly suited for the storyline where so much of Imani’s life has really led to this moment, and she’s been searching her whole life, and she does get the thing that she wanted. She does find her sister, but of course, as is reality, it has been 22 years. And so the life her sister has led has created a person that Imani doesn’t really recognize, and Shari doesn’t remember. So we loved all the complexities of it. I think we really loved the idea that by the end of this, it really left Imani with a big decision to make that also looped back into Voight. So it gave us a lot to play with and to open up for next season as well, different places we could take the whole thing.

And then Arienne, how do you think Imani’s feeling about her sister at the end there? Because like we just touched on, there’s so much complexity and so much happened. So what do you think her feelings are about Shari at the end of the season?

Arienne Mandi: I mean, it’s been 20 years. There’s so much that she’s this whole person that Imani doesn’t even know. She’s lived over far more than the life that they live together. She’s lived her own life outside of that. She’s her own person. She’s gone through so much. So I think obviously there’s so much love there, but there’s also so much uncertainty and so much to bridge from when they were kids. And can that be bridged? I think that’s the toughest thing to grapple with. Because like Gwen was saying, you search for this thing for your whole life, and then you get it, and it’s not maybe what you thought it was going to be and how you handle that.

Elizabeth Sisson/NBC

Gwen, what can you say about what this means for next season? Because we’ve seen Voight cover stuff up in the past. He asked the ME not to document it, but then there was his and Imani’s last conversation. So where are we going to go from here?

Sigan: Yeah, it’s definitely a question that we will answer in the premiere of what did they decide to do? What is this going to look like? And either way, whatever they decide to do, I think there are so many consequences that will happen emotionally, but also through the job and for the team, and what does it look like for Imani’s state of mind next season either way. Either way, she’s either got her sister in prison, most likely or her sister is out, but also dealing with all of these things and tried to kill her, and definitely is not somebody that you can just leave on their own and hope for the best. And so I think either way we’ll have so much to play with. And we always love the idea of secrets that sort of bond people together, and lies, too, that bond people together. And what does that do for a family unit like Intelligence? How does that sort of reverberate through everybody? So we’ve got a lot to play with. I’m excited to see where it takes us.

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It seems that Shari probably needs more help than Imani is really even able to give her. So Arienne, what do you think are the next steps realistically in Imani’s mind?

Mandi: I mean, realistically, it just helping her remember. Just helping her understand that she did have a life before all the chaos that happened and hopefully trying to create some sort of relationship between them again and have part of her family back and obviously tending to whatever internal wounds she has from this whole experience, and making sure that she’s whole. So I think there’s so much help that she needs and so much that needs to be explored. Can they have any sort of relationship and can she be a whole person after all the damage that’s been done?

What are your hopes for Imani next season, both when it comes to her sister and even outside of that storyline?

Mandi: I think for the first time, she’s in the work sense of things, she’s created this relationship with this person, Voight, they’re so much alike, they’re so cut from the same cloth and just born the way they were born, different from everybody else, I guess. And this thing that’s happened now, the cliffhanger where we leave them in Episode 21 is like, what does happen from here? Do they deepen maybe this bond from this secret that they’re hiding, and what does that, can they work together in the same environment or what does that look like? Yeah, I hope that she gets some sort of, I don’t even know what the word is, reconciliation, some sort of something understanding. Yeah, it’s really all up in the air, I feel like, for her right now.

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'Chicago P.D.' Season 14: Cast, Premiere Date, More Details

Gwen, with Bob (Jack Coleman) dying a couple of episodes ago, that was obviously devastating. So, what can you say about what that means for Ruzek (Patrick John Flueger) going forward, and what can we expect for Ruzek and Burgess (Marina Squerciati) next season?

Sigan: Yeah, I think that was such a big loss for him. It’s one of the bigger losses that we’ve seen him have to deal with on the show. I think this is the closest family member that he had in his life, and certainly the way that Bob’s illness, the toll it took on him, and the way that he died, there’s a lot of grief that he’s going to need to sort through. But I think there’s also this fresh start for him and for Burgess where they’re moving, they have sort of made that decision to try and make Makayla’s life look different than maybe their childhoods looked like, and what they kind of expected for themselves in this phase of life. So I’m excited to explore all that. I think there’s a lot to play with them as a unit, but also just with each of them on their own. I think there’s a lot for Burgess next season to explore, and within the job, outside of the job, there’s so many different opportunities. I think it will be a big season of change for everybody.

Chicago P.D., Season 14 Premiere, Fall 2026, Wednesdays, 10/9c, NBC

—Additional reporting by Alyssa Norwin

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