‘Chicago PD’s’ Sophia Bush on Her Character’s Emotional Meltdown and 5 Other Emmy Contender Quickies

Sophia Bush has been playing Erin Lindsay on NBC’s “Chicago P.D.” for two seasons now. As a member of the CPD’s Intelligence Unit and a recovering alcoholic, Lindsay has proven to be one of the “Chicago Fire” spinoff’s most interesting characters.

This season saw the death of Lindsay’s friend and co-worker Nadia in a crossover event with “Chicago Fire” and “Law & Order: SVU.” Lindsay’s subsequent downward spiral and her return to hitting the bottle left her in a bad place by season’s end. The finale saw her turning in her badge and announcing her resignation from the force in a major cliffhanger for the series.

In an interview with TheWrap, Bush talked about making the arc believable, doing her own stunts and live tweeting the show with fans.

TheWrap: What was the toughest thing you had to do this season?
Sophia Bush: The toughest thing I had to do this season was having Erin unravel in such an extreme way very quickly following the death of her friend. I had to wrap my head around her behaving in ways that she spent a lot of her life walking away from. And from those kinds of habits. I had to create an arc that made a backslide so drastic make sense for me, and hopefully for the audience.

What was the most fun?
By far one of the coolest things I got to do all year was film this high speed chase across Lake Street in Chicago. We had about a mile of the street shut down. It’s usually teams of stunt drivers doing the driving, but they’ve all gotten to know me, and they know that I’ve become quite the amateur race car driver myself. And they let me do all of my own stunt driving on the show.

If someone had never seen “Chicago P.D.,” what would you say to persuade them to watch it?
This ain’t your dad’s cop show. You’re missing a really gritty and layered and adrenalized and complicated look at the people we consider to be our heroes and our anti-heroes. It’s a hell of a lot of fun.

Who else on your show really deserves an Emmy and why?
I think everyone is doing such great work. Brian Geraghty, Jesse Soffer, Jason Beghe, all of the guys, really… I feel the same way about Elias. I think Elias Koteas is one of the great gifts to our group of actors. He’s so talented, and I really have so much fun in big scenes just watching him work.

Are you a binge-watcher? Or do you like to watch one episode a week?
It depends on the show. With “Orphan Black,” I watch every week because I don’t want anything to be spoiled. When I’m watching “Orange Is the New Black” or “House of Cards,” I’m totally binging. And I’ll tell myself I’m going to watch three episodes, but then seven hours later, I’ve powered through more than half the season and I know that I need to get off the couch…

The reason I love live TV-watching is because I have so much fun with the social media aspect of it. I have so much fun tweeting with the fans and seeing immediate reactions to what’s happening on screen. I know that when something major happens and my phone crashes, our fans have literally crashed my Twitter. That’s such a cool experience and I wouldn’t have that if we weren’t all watching live together.

If you could add any new category to the Emmys, serious or silly, what would it be?
There’s honestly two. I think there should be an Emmy for Best Ensemble. There’s so much good ensemble television out there right now. And I know that for me, the men and women that I work with, they’re my real life squad. They’re my people. And I know that a lot of shows are in that boat. All of these people say, “Hey, an ensemble really deserves to be honored here.”

I also think there should be a special Emmy created just for [“Orphan Black” actress] Tatiana Maslany. An award for an ensemble all played by one person, because she should win that award every year, forever.