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Patrick John Flueger Can't Believe He Once Auditioned for This Marvel Superhero Role
The Chicago P.D. star ended up exactly where he needed to be.
Viewers are still recovering from the events of the October 2 episode of Chicago P.D. and the trauma Patrick John Flueger's Adam Ruzek went through as soon as the episode started. Fans will remember that Martel was shot and killed, with the episode "Blood Bleeds Blue" (Season 12, Episode 2) following the Intelligence Unit's manhunt for her killer.
It was a whirlwind sequence of events that will have major ramifications for Ruzek moving forward, setting the stage for an unbelievable Season 12.
"I think they get into dangerous situations so often and it always kind of works out, you know what I mean?" Flueger told NBC Insider. "People die, but certainly never like that. Not right in front of his face... He likes adrenaline. He was a bit of a junkie for it, I think. And so I think that in that moment, suddenly it's not a game anymore."
In an October 3 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Flueger was tasked with discussing the events of the second episode of the season — but interestingly enough, THR spilled the beans and revealed they knew he auditioned for the part of Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2011.
"Well first of all, let's be honest with each other: Chris Evans is Captain America. He was Captain America before we even tested for the role. He just crushed that role; so, I don't even know why I was in there," Flueger said.
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It's a fascinating thought experiment for One Chicago fans — if things turned out a little differently, Flueger himself would've played the iconic superhero.
During the traumatic scene (spoiler alert!) that saw Ruzek deal with the immediate aftermath of his partner (Victoria Cartagena's Emily Martel) being shot in the head, Flueger revealed that an ad-libbed line felt appropriate for his character at that moment.
"It wasn't written, but we always do a call out for 12 years now. It's 'Atwater, you good?', 'Kim, you good?' We always do this call out, and in 12 years, I don't know about everybody else's storyline, but for me it's the first time that I said, 'Martel, you good?' and there was no response. I think [Ruzek] actually thinks that, as crazy as things get, nothing is going to really go wrong, 'We've done it before, we'll do it again.' And I think that when it doesn't work out that way, it's a shocker for him."
Patrick John Flueger is proud of his character's evolution on Chicago P.D.
Unsurprisingly, Ruzek's evolution has paralleled Flueger's own career. The 40-year-old admitted that there are a lot of similarities between himself and the character he's played for well over a decade.
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"Not to toot my own horn, but I think my character has grown and changed the most out of any other character," Flueger explained. "He was just kind of an enthusiastic kid whose dad was a cop and he came in like, 'Yeah!' Over the years he's been shot, he's been beaten up a couple of times, and he's been a pleasure to play."
Ultimately, Flueger acknowledges that he and Ruzek have "grown up" at about the same rate — and his fictional portrayal has helped him mature away from the show.
"Patrick Flueger has grown up a lot since we started this show; I hope he has," he confessed. "And Adam Ruzek has grown up kind of adjacent to me growing up. And it's been cool. I think it helped me grow up, being this guy, sometimes."
