Chicago P.D.’s Jay Halstead and Hailey Upton returned to the Windy City during the high-stakes One Chicago crossover — but did they leave a couple?
Jesse Lee Soffer, who plays Halstead, and Tracy Spiridakos, who portrays Upton, exclusively told Us Weekly all about their “unfinished business” and the TV reunion that will definitely leave fans talking.
Warning: Spoilers below from season 13, episode 13 of Chicago P.D. and the One Chicago crossover.
Soffer, 41, explained to Us that during the Wednesday, March 4, crossover event, Halstead finds himself back in Chicago after traveling to Bolivia to work drug interdiction and chase cartel members.
When a case that Upton is working on, now as an FBI agent, “intersects” with Halstead’s work, it’s a “really big deal” for Halstead, who is “happy to see her and work side by side with her for a minute.”
Soffer told Us that before Halstead left during season 10 in 2022 of Chicago P.D. amid his marriage to Upton, he told her, “I’m coming back. I got to go do this. I gotta go, like, find myself, but I love you, and I’m coming back.”
However, he left “so abruptly that there was all this unfinished business” and it left a “void” in both of their lives.
“There’s a lot of like story to be mined from that,” the actor said, noting that the crossover gave Halstead an opportunity to see Upton face-to-face for the first time in years. (Spiridakos’ Upton left Chicago P.D. after season 11 in 2024 as a divorced woman.)
Taylor Kinney as Kelly Severide, Tracy Spiridakos as Hailey Upton, Dermot Mulroney as Chief Dom Pascal. Peter Gordon/NBC
During the three-hour crossover episode, Upton crossed paths with Chicago Med, Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D. members as they all work to figure out what caused passengers of a plane headed for Chicago to die mysteriously.
Upton revealed to her former boss Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) that a drug trafficking case she was working on was tied to Halstead, which is why she decided to come to Chicago and not blow his cover in case he’d been compromised.
Halstead, meanwhile, showed up to help the team just in time to save Upton’s life from one of the assailants, who purchased drugs to make a toxin that would infect first responders he held responsible for the death of his family in a fire 25 years prior.
“There were so many times I wanted to reach out,” Halstead told Upton after they were out of harm’s way, but he just brushed him off.
At the end of the episode, Halstead and Upton — along with their former Intelligence Unit squad — eliminate the bad guy and save the city from an attack that would have killed even more people. They also manage to get an antidote to save the firefighters and paramedics who were exposed during the investigation.
Before Upton leaves the squad room, Halstead tries one more time to apologize for leaving her and seemingly giving up on them.
“I stayed to work this case because you were here,” he told her. Upton confessed, “I came here because you were here.”
Jesse Lee Soffer as Jay Halstead. George Burns Jr/NBC
Halstead then apologized for “all of it,” saying he was “sorry” he couldn’t find his way back to Chicago. “I’m sorry that I lost you.”
Upton replied, “I’m sorry too,” before inviting him out for a drink ahead of their respective departing flights. They exchanged a cheeky glance before leaving the office together.
“I think the bond that they had was a really, really strong one to begin with,” Spiridakos, 38, told Us of the TV duo. “They were partners for so long [and] had been through so much. The romantic part of their relationship came so much later.”
She noted that Upton was “hurt by how things ended between them” and that pain would not be “easily forgotten.”
Upton gave Halstead an olive branch with the drinks offer, with Spiridakos teasing that could eventually lead to more between them.
“I don’t know if it’s a new beginning, but I think it’s opened the door to have further conversations,” Spiridakos told Us. “That the end moment between them is like, ‘OK, I will accept a conversation.’ And that’s about as far as she can go.”
Spiridakos and Soffer both agreed that it’s not the end of Upton and Halstead’s story, assuming the One Chicago writers agree.
“I know we both would love to come back and play some more. If there’s more story to be had, we are here for it,” Spiridakos confirmed, with Soffer adding that he’s more than open to the possibility of more episodes for the former TV couple.
“Hell yeah,” Soffer said.
Only time will tell if fans will see the pair back together.
Chicago P.D. airs on NBC Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET.
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