As fans wait to hear if ‘Chicago Justice’ will return, we look at what NBC’s pickups and cancellations mean for the chance that ‘Justice’ gets Season 2.

Fans of Chicago Justice are nervous as NBC ordered new seasons of the other three One Chicago series, but left the newest one on the chopping block. While Justice is still in contention for Season 2, the fact that it wasn’t included in the franchise pickup has viewers not sure about its future.

But could we get any clues toward Justice‘s future from the other renewals and cancellations that NBC has already made this week?

The network has made some major moves recently as it prepares for its upfronts presentation to advertisers. Several of its programming decisions could factor into the fate of Chicago Justice in one way or another.

So let’s break them down, shall we?

1) NBC renews Blindspot for Season 3

The number one thing that Chicago Justice fans have zeroed in on is the fact that NBC has picked up Blindspot for a third season. The renewal of that series is a talking point amongst One Chicago fans because Blindspot’s numbers have been significantly poorer than those of Justice.

The most recent Blindspot episode on Wednesday pulled in 3.84 million live viewers, compared to Justice‘s 5.26 million on Sunday. Blindspot has routinely been NBC’s weakest program on its night where it’s ranked No. 12; Justice is ranked No. 6 on Sundays. People are doing the math and asking why Blindspot has been renewed and Justice hasn’t, which is a fair question.

But you have to look at the big picture—most notably that Blindspot has the exact same issue that Chicago Justice has: it’s in a terrible time slot. Blindspot’s numbers nose-dived after it moved from Mondays at 10 p.m., with The Voice as its lead-in, to having to kick off Wednesdays at 8 p.m. So its survival could actually be encouraging, an example of how NBC is willing to cut some slack to shows that are in difficult spots on the schedule.

2) NBC renews The Blacklist for Season 5

On Thursday, NBC ordered a fifth season of The Blacklist, which is another series that has pulled in lower numbers than Chicago Justice. Its episode last Thursday attracted 4.81 million live viewers.

But you have to wonder if the renewal wasn’t at least partially good business. Season 5 of The Blacklist will include the show’s 100th episode, and 100 is the magic number for networks to be able to syndicate series and make additional money off those rebroadcasts (like the Law & Order reruns that are on USA, TNT, and local channels seemingly every day).

That’s a long-term game plan. Could that also benefit Chicago Justice, because it’s part of the franchise that is arguably the biggest cornerstone of NBC? Does the network give the benefit of the doubt because it doesn’t want to upset essentially the foundation of its primetime lineup?

3) NBC cancels Powerless

Thursday also saw NBC pull the plug on Chicago Med‘s low-rated lead-in, the DC Comics comedy Powerless. That leaves just The Good Place and Superstore to make up NBC’s Thursday comedy block, and of those two, only Superstore currently has a full 22-episode order.

That could possibly open up Thursdays at 8 p.m. as a landing spot for Chicago Justice. Even if both comedies launch in the fall, unless The Good Place is extended, there will be nine weeks where a half-hour hole will exist on Thursday. Given that uneven scheduling, could NBC decide to move one or both shows off Thursday and drop Justice into the night instead?

Such a decision would actually solve two issues. It would put Justice on during the week, where it could benefit off the momentum from the rest of the One Chicago shows, and it would solve the struggle Med has been having with incompatible lead-ins. Food for thought.

4) NBC has yet to renew or cancel Law & Order: SVU

If you’re a Law & Order: SVU fan, stop reading now. But the fact that NBC is also on the fence about renewing SVU could be the most encouraging sign for Chicago Justice.

SVU‘s ratings have flagged this season, despite the show racking up its 400th episode, and it has been on for the better part of two decades. With so much more focus clearly having moved onto the Chicago franchise, it wouldn’t be a shocker if NBC decided to let go of the last piece of the L&O world and put all its eggs in the Chicago basket.

Should that happen Wednesdays at 9 p.m. in the fall is a dream time slot for Chicago Justice. It’s a fall debut that will put it right alongside the other three Chicago series, which is really what they should be—a unified front. It would be a lateral move, keeping the show at the same time but on a weeknight, where it would be much better off.

And Justice would be a perfect lead-in for Chicago PD, plus bolster the aforementioned weak Wednesday lineup that needs some punch to fight back against FOX’s Empire and CBS’s Criminal Minds. NBC is currently fourth on Wednesdays, and if it’s keeping Blindspot it has to do something else to improve its standing.

All of these above decisions could come into play when NBC considers whether to go forward with more Chicago Justice.

In any case it would be vital for the show to get some reruns over the next few months and give viewers a chance to discover the series, and right now we’re not sure that’ll happen; NBC’s latest schedule release on May 8 states there will be Justice replays starting June 1, while other media sources are reporting it’s since been replaced by reruns of SVU.

All of this is to say that there are multiple options for a second season of Chicago Justice, so no news yet is not necessarily bad news. Negotiations for the future of the show are ongoing and it’s possible that NBC is just seeing how their big picture clears up before making a move. They also have at least three new series that they need to find space for, so even they may not know just what to do yet.

But if you’re a Chicago Justice fan, the most important thing that you can do now is make sure that you’re tuned into Sunday’s season finale live. The live overnight ratings for the finale will definitely be looked at, and a big gain could be a big plus for the show if NBC hasn’t made an announcement before then. There’s still fighting to be done and the best way to fight is to keep watching.

Chicago Justice airs Sundays at 9/8c on NBC.