Tracy Spiridakos Is Saying Goodbye to Her Role as Hailey Upton After ‘Chicago P.D.’ Season 11
Tracy Spiridakos is the latest CPD officer saying goodbye to the Intelligence Unit.
The actress is set to leave her role as Hailey Upton after Chicago P.D. season 11 comes to an end, multiple outlets confirmed on Tuesday, October 24. Variety was first to report the news.
Spiridakos, 35, has yet to speak publicly about her departure. Her exit comes six years after she made her debut as Hailey during the show’s fourth season in 2017.
Chicago P.D. was renewed for an 11th season this past April, but production was pushed due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. While the writers were able to return to work late last month, the actors’ strike is still ongoing.
Spiridakos’ departure from the show comes one season after her onscreen husband, Jesse Lee Soffer, said goodbye to the show after 10 seasons as Detective Jay Halstead.
Jay left Hailey behind to join the U.S. Army on assignment in Bolivia.
Soffer, 39, said “there’s no good answer” as to why he decided to leave the show. “I was ready for more,” the actor told Variety in February.
The former NBC star has already returned to the Chicago P.D. set, however. He directed the 16th episode in season 10, titled "Deadlocked.”
“This was the perfect episode for me to direct,” he told Deadline at the time. “I love this episode because it was like a throwback episode to old-school P.D. with Voight [Jason Beghe] going off the rails, Man on Fire kind of stuff, vigilante stuff and living in the gray area off the books. That’s the story we’ve been telling, especially the foil between Halstead and Voight, for so long — it’s something I really know deeply. So to get to do that kind of story with Jason was really fun."
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LaRoyce Hawkins, one of Soffer’s former costars, was quick to praise his directorial debut.
“That was amazing. Jesse’s such a talented guy. And he’s been doing this for so long,” the actor, who plays Kevin Atwater on Chicago P.D., told Us Weekly exclusively in June. “His eye is very well seasoned when it comes to just pictures and frames.”
Even though Jay has been out of the game for a minute, it’s possible he’ll make an onscreen appearance now that his wife is set to leave Intelligence.
Previously, Soffer told Variety that the door on playing Jay was “definitely not” completely closed.
“Never say never,” he added. “I like to think — and I hope the fans think this too — that he’s just in another country right now, doing what he does best and making the world a safer place.”
