Peter Stone (''Chicago'' and ''Law & Order'' character)

Chicago P.D. (2016)

Assistant District Attorney Peter Stone is first introduced in the third season episode of Chicago P.D. entitled "Justice" which served as a backdoor pilot for Chicago Justice.

Chicago Justice (2017)

Following the success of the episode the character went on to appear as a main character in Chicago Justice. Stone has spent most of his adult life in Chicago, primarily as prosecutor with the State's Attorney's office in Cook County. It is implied that he previously played professional baseball in the Chicago Cubs organization as a pitcher, a fact later confirmed in Law & Order: SVU. He reveals that his career ended when he tore his UCL.

Other Chicago appearances (2016–17)

The character later went on to make further guest appearances in Chicago P.D.. Stone also played a major role in a three-part crossover between Chicago Fire, P.D., and Justice. Following the cancellation of Chicago Justice, the character went on to reprise his role as a guest star in Chicago Med.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2018-present)

In his first appearance on Law & Order: SVU, Stone attends his father's funeral. He is later appointed by District Attorney Jack McCoy as special counsel prosecuting Rafael Barba (Raúl Esparza) in the death of a terminally ill child in the episode "The Undiscovered Country". However, when Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) confronts him during the trial and he admits he sympathizes with Barba but cannot ignore the prosecution because he fears it will set a bad example to others, she urges him to talk to Barba and be more reasonable with him. This later results in Barba being found not guilty, a result Stone ultimately approves with.

After Barba resigns, traumatized by the case, Stone takes over as ADA overseeing the Manhattan SVU. His stint begins to a rocky start, particularly with initial tension with the rest of the members of the SVU team due to Barba's sudden departure. He soon begins to grow into the job and bond with them, particularly as he reveals that he was a professional baseball player in the Chicago Cubs' minor league system, briefly called up to the major leagues, but was forced to retire from the game due to injury that tore his ligament, an event that has left him feeling bitter, unable to control his anger except for at the law and blaming himself for letting his family down.

He also reveals that that he has an older sister named Pamela who is schizophrenic and committed to a psychiatric hospital where he visits her every week after their father's death. When Pamela begins to show signs of memory loss, believing that he is their father, Stone reluctantly increases her medication on her doctor's advice, concerned that stopping the medication could cause her to become suicidal. In the episode "Remember Me, Too", Pamela is abducted by members of a criminal network in an extremely brutal shooting at the psychiatric hospital. Though she is found by Stone and the SVU team, the resulting shoot-out ends up mortally wounding Pamela, who dies in a devastated Stone's arms. However, after Stone says to Benson that the last thing his sister said was his first name, he begins weeping in her arms.

In the season 20 premiere "Man Up", it is revealed that Stone has been drinking, racking up a large bar tab, and having threesomes with various women out of guilt for Pamela's death. He also turns down Benson's offer to talk about his feelings about this, despite her trying to be there for him.

Casting

Philip Winchester was first announced to be starring in Chicago Law (later renamed Chicago Justice) on February 19, 2016.^[3] It was later reported that Winchester would first appear in a backdoor pilot episode embedded in Chicago P.D.^[4] Winchester continued to guest star in P.D. and made also a appearance in Chicago Med.^[5] Following the cancellation of Justice, it was announced that Winchester would move to Law & Order: SVU in a starring capacity.^[6][7] Winchester replaced Raúl Esparza on SVU who departed the series in Winchester's debut episode.^[8]

Creation

Peter Jankowski, COO and President of Wolf Films, stated "When we cast Philip, the idea going in wasn't to make that character Ben Stone's son but as we saw it develop and we saw the actor, it made sense."^[9]