“Chicago Justice” now NBC/Dick Wolf 4th series here

Philip Winchester and Carl Weathers

“Chicago Justice” is now officially the fourth series in the NBC/Dick Wolf “Chicago” franchise, making Chicago the production center for what will be eight TV series by fall. Wednesday night’s backdoor episode on “Chicago PD” introducing the “Chicago Justice” characters drew 6.8 million total viewers.

The show stars Philip Winchester (“Strike Back”) as the lead prosecutor in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office; Carl Weathers (“Rocky”) as the D.A., Nazneen Contractor (“Heroes Reborn”) and Joelle Carter (“Justified”) on the D.A. staff.

Executive producers are Dick Wolf, Peter Jankowski, Matt Olmstead, Derek Haas, Michael Brandt and Arthur Forney.

The courtroom scene in the backdoor episode was set in one of Cinespace’s two new stages in its South Building at 16th and Rockwell. When all six South Building stages are completed this summer, Cinespace will have a total of 30 stages – the biggest complex east of Hollywood, including New York.

Fox TV is sending two new TV series to Cinespace, “The Exorcist” and “A.P.B.” to join its hit “Empire” series. That adds up to a record eight TV shows being filmed here, along with NBC’s four “Chicago” and Amazon’s “The Patriot” series.