Chicago P.D. Reveals How Detective Halstead Exits Series
It's officially the end of an era for Chicago P.D., with Jesse Lee Soffer confirmed to exit the NBC series. Soffer has been playing Detective Jay Halstead since the Season 2 premiere of Chicago Fire, and has appeared in all 187 episodes of Chicago P.D. thus far, making the news of his exit upsetting to some fans. Soffer was confirmed to be exiting the series in late August — and in this week's episode, we finally got to see what his exit entailed. Spoilers for the most recent episode of Chicago P.D., "A Good Man", below! Only look if you want to know!
The episode opens with some sort of unexpected rift Halstead is having with his wife, Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos) — which is complicated when both of them end up on the scene of an active robbery in a local pharmacy. During the ordeal, Halstead meets a good samaritan named Lenny who helps on the scene, but gets shot while trying to save a pregnant bystander. Lenny is admitted into the hospital, and is revealed to actually be part of the crew that robbed the pharmacy — something that he asks Halstead to keep a secret.
Halstead agrees, and ultimately ends up in a fight with one of the other criminals in an attempt to clear Lenny's name, stabbing him in self-defense. Upton and Voight (Jason Beghe) soon arrive and see the ordeal, and concoct an alibi to cover up what really happened. The guilt over this ultimately eats at Halstead, who decides to turn in his badge and resign. He reunites with Upton, and tells her he's going to start over as an Army leader in Bolivia, working with a squad to take down drug cartels. He then reunites with Voight at the airport, and leaves to embark on his new life.
"I want to thank the incredible fans for their unwavering support during the past 10 years and want to express my deepest gratitude to Dick Wolf and everyone at Wolf Entertainment, Peter Jankowski, Matt Olmstead, Derek Haas, Michael Brandt, Rick Eid, Gwen Sigan, NBC, Universal Television, my fellow castmates and our incredible crew," Soffer said in a statement to Variety when his exit was first announced. "To create this hour drama week after week has been a labor of love by everyone who touches the show. I will always be proud of my time as Det. Jay Halstead."
How do you feel about Jesse Lee Soffer's exit from Chicago P.D.? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!