Chicago P.D.’s Tracy Spiridakos Exiting NBC Series After Season 11
After six years on the show, Spiridakos will make her final performance as Hailey Upton in season 11, PEOPLE confirms
Chicago P.D. is losing another fan-favorite character.
Tracy Spiridakos, who has portrayed Detective Hailey Upton since joining the series in 2017, will make her final appearance as the character in season 11, PEOPLE can confirm.
Variety was the first to report the news.Spiridakos’ exit comes just one season after her on-screen husband, Jay Halstead, played by Jesse Lee Soffer, closed out his chapter on the NBC series.
In a statement at the time, Soffer, 39, said, “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.”
He added, “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.”
Spiridakos, 35, has yet to address the news.When her on-screen husband left the series last year, Spiridakos shared a heartfelt tribute to her longtime costar on Instagram.
“Jesse, what can I say, you’re the absolute best,” she wrote in the post. “Thank you for your kindness, your guidance and your friendship. You’re the greatest onscreen husband a girl could ask for. I’ll miss being on set with you every day. I can’t wait to see what the world has in store for you next.”After Soffer’s final episode as Halstead aired, he thanked his fans for their love for the character he’d played for a decade.
“For anyone that’s ever been a Halstead fan, I just want you to know that I’m grateful. Thank you for going on this journey with me. I’m just grateful,” he wrote in a tweet.
He added, “If I could like every single tweet I would. I appreciate all the love. It means so much to me. Thank you.”News of Spiridakos’ upcoming exit sparked curiosity among fans over whether a possible reunion between her character and her husband could come ahead of her finale.
Soffer previously told Variety that the door was “definitely not” completely closed for him on Chicago P.D., adding, “Never say never.”
His character’s absence from the show was explained as a continuously-extended trip to Bolivia to assist the Army, so Soffer said, “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.”
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The return of Chicago P.D. for season 11 has no confirmed premiere date yet, but earlier this month, reports circulated that showrunners and writers were scheduled to head back to the writer’s room on the show following the end of the WGA strike, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
