How Jesse Lee Soffer, LaRoyce Hawkins And Co. Responded After Tracy Spiridakos Left Chicago PD
Spoilers For Chicago P.D.’s finale episode “More“ are going to be in this article, so don’t say we didn’t warn you!
Last night, the 13th and final episode of Chicago P.D. Season 11 hit the 2024 TV schedule. It was an episode filled with plenty of twists and turns for the fans, as Upton was shot at one point and Voight was dealing with a serial killer. Ultimately, she left the P.D. unit to pursue other opportunities after her close call, which leaves the door open for Tracy Spiridakos to return to the show (possibly) at some point. Her co-stars will be missing her in the meantime, though.
In fact, both former cast member Jesse Lee Soffer, LaRoyce Hawkins and more took to social to say their final goodbyes to the actress, who has played Hailey Upton on the series since she started as a recurring character in Season 4. Soffer was back on the set of Chicago P.D. recently to direct the penultimate Season 11 episode of the series; intriguingly, it was the one just before Upton’s farewell, and he took to Instagram to reveal he’d gotten to see the farewell episode early. (Lucky duck.)
LaRyoce Hawkins also shared a special post with Spiridakos’ face front and center. It originally was from NBC’s popular One Chicago Instagram account, which shared a slew of Stories stuff about the episode airing on NBC and for those with a Peacock subscription. Hawkins called last night’s run of programs a “happy finale," but then had an emoii response to that, presumably based on his feelings regarding his co-star’s major One Chicago exit.
Cast member Marina Squerciati also shared a photo from set of herself and Tracy Spiridakos hugging, though one of them looked more excited about it than the other. Actually, she confirmed her co-star was more enthusiastic about the moment, but it was a cute sendoff post, regardless.
With Jesse Lee Soffer leaving the series during Season 10, and Upton and Hallstead splitting on the drama as part of that storyline, there was an easy out for the actress to get written out of the show. Showrunner Gwen Sigan told CinemaBlend it was a “very classy” thing for Spiridakos to do to commit to one full season to write off her character rather than just leaving the series when the show’s episode got cut down due to the various strikes. If things had gone differently, we might have had a totally different story arc in Season 11, but it sounds like it all worked out as it was meant to.
Upton’s journey ultimately ended with a fresh start for Hailey Upton and some hope for her future. Hopefully that’s what this break will mean for Tracy Spiridakos, too. We'll be sure to keep you posted when she lands her next gig.