Chicago P.D.: What happened to Yara Martinez's Gloria Perez? Character's fate and star's exit, explored

Chicago P.D. is the second installment of the fan-favorite Chicago franchise and premiered in January 2014. Created by Dick Wolf and Matt Olmstead, the show revolves around the lives of the police officers in the Intelligence Unit of the 21st District in the Chicago Police Department as they try to maintain peace in the city and also tackle their personal issues.

Over the years, several stars have joined and also left the show for various reasons. One such recent exit was of Yara Martinez, who played Gloria Perez. Martinez’s Gloria had a complete character arc. Gloria is shot dead in the show, and this played an important part in the character development of Dante Torres (Benjamin Levy Aguilar).

Martinez joined Chicago P.D. as a recurring character in Season 11 and quickly became one of the favorites. She also played a significant role in bringing down one of the notorious villains in season 11. However, her character died in the fall finale of Chicago P.D., leaving a grieving Torres.

More on this in our story.

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How did Yara Martinez’s Gloria Perez die in Chicago P.D.?

As mentioned, Martinez’s Gloria Perez was introduced in season 11 when Dante Torres went undercover to investigate her husband and the drug lord Rafael Perez. While she was tasked with observing Torres, they started becoming closer and shared about their issues as Gloria revealed to him about being abused by her husband. Torres successfully turns Gloria into a confidential informant who then helps the police in bringing down Rafael’s fentanyl business.

However, later, she also starts her own drug business, which is cracked by the Chicago P.D., resulting in a shootout and her death. In season 12's fall finale, Gloria is killed by the bullet that was actually meant for Dante Torres, and she dies in his arms.

Torres still had some lingering feelings for Gloria, even after their unethical intimate relationship ended in Season 11, which left him devastated. While talking to Screenrant, showrunner Gwen Sigan talked about how Gloria’s death will push the story forward and impact Torres’s character arc. She said:

"It's got a lot of repercussions for him. We obviously saw the consequences in real-time as far as the team finding out and how the team reacted and that feeling of betrayal that a lot of the members had that he did this. But we'll also see a lot of the emotional fallout in the second half of the season."

She further added:

"This death triggers a lot for him and even all the way back to childhood. I think that question of why was he attracted to her, and what she said to him before she died, which was, "We are the same." I think they were attracted to each other's trauma in a lot of ways, and we explore that in the second half of the season when he's emotionally dealing with the loss of her and also some other events that happen."

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Why did Yara Martinez exit Chicago P.D.? Reasons explored

Since the premiere of Chicago P.D., many stars have left the show due to various reasons ranging from fallout to creative differences. However, Martinez’s exit might not be one of them, as no reports of such kind were shared during her time on the show.

Therefore, her exit might be the result of a complete character arc of Gloria and also to improve Torres’s character development for the future seasons.

On the contrary, while talking to CinemaBlend, Benjamin Levy Aguilar shared how excited he was as Martinez was back in Season 12. He said:

"It's been great. Ever since she came in the first time, we were all like, 'We have to bring her back. She's incredible.' Such a good energy, such a fantastic actress. When I got the news that she was going to come back, I was really happy."

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