‘Chicago P.D.’ Boss on Jesse Lee Soffer’s Return as Director — Will He Appear Onscreen?
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If you’re worried about Chicago P.D.‘s Detective Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos) now that she can’t focus on building a case against sex trafficker Sean O’Neal (Jefferson White), you’re not alone. Ever since her husband, Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer) left, she’s been using work to distract herself, but so much is up in the air regarding their future and how that will continue to affect her. With Soffer returning to direct later this season, might we see him onscreen again as well?
“We’ll definitely hear about what’s going on, for sure, and tell stories about that absence,” showrunner Gwen Sigan tells TV Insider. “There are no plans to see him onscreen, but we’re very excited that he is coming back and directing one. I think he’s gonna really enjoy it. I think it will be a nice opportunity for him.”
In the fall finale, just as Upton and Sergeant Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) were going to arrest Sean, they heard gunshots and found his father, Chief O’Neal (Michael Gaston) dead. Sean, however, was still alive, despite his own wounds. Though Upton hesitated, she did eventually step in to help Voight try to save his life, and they succeeded. White will be back, in Episode 12, but now there is the question of how Upton copes with having to face what she has been avoiding.
“Once the distraction is gone, you have to go back home, and what is that gonna do to her? We’ll see the fallout of that and see the reality that she’s pushed away everything, and she’s had this great distraction and this thing she could just throw herself into,” Sigan says.
“But now it’s gone, and the reality of her situation has not changed. Her husband, her partner, is gone. She does not know if he’s coming back, and she’s still married to him, and she’s living in the house that they got together,” she continues. “It’s just a hard place to be in. So she’s gonna have to look at it now; she’s going to have to deal with it and find out what it means for her that he’s not here.”
Chicago P.D., Winter Premiere, Wednesday, January 4, 10/9c, NBC
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