Should Chicago PD fans be concerned about Halstead being killed off?

This fall, Chicago PD will bid farewell to one of its original cast members with the departure of Jesse Lee Soffer as Detective Jay Halstead.

As first reported by Variety, Soffer will be exiting the series this fall after 10 seasons on the show. Aside from the fact that he’s departing the show, little is known about Soffer’s upcoming other than that his exit will be coming sometime this fall.

With Soffer set to exit the series, the question becomes how exactly might the series address his departure from the show. And it’s a reasonable question for fans to be asking.

Over the years, Chicago PD has seen its fair share of casting shakeups with several cast members exiting the show over the years including the likes of Sophia Bush, Jon Seda, Samuel Hunt, Stella Maeve and Elias Koteas. With each of these departures, the show has come up with a unique way to write the character off in a way that either left the door open for their return or ended under grave circumstances.

Given how the One Chicago shows have been unafraid of killing characters off, should fans be worried that Halstead could be killed off the series?

Will Chicago PD kill off Halstead?

At this time, it has not yet been revealed whether Chicago PD will kill off Halstead in wake of Jesse Lee Soffer’s exit but it is a possibility. There have been numerous characters who have been killed off as part of exit storylines on PD including Alvin “Al” Olinsky and Nadia Decotis, so we can’t rule out the writers choosing to kill Halstead off of the show as well.

That said, we have a feeling the writers will find a way to write Halstead off of the show in a way that would leave the door open for his possible return. After all, Soffer seems to be leaving the show on good terms and has long been a fan favorite on the series.

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It is going to be interesting to see how exactly the writers choose to write the character off given his involvement with Upton. Season 9 saw Halstead and Upton finally exchanging I Do’s and we can’t see the writers breaking the pair up after finally putting them together only just last year.

In fact, this is why some might jump right to worrying about Halstead being killed off the show and it’s an understandable concern to have. However, as Chicago Fire has shown, it’s more than possible to write a character off of the show and find a way to keep their relationship alive.

Perhaps Halstead is offered a job opportunity that will see him leave town, but the show will keep his presence alive through one-off updates as they’ve done with Casey and with Dawson for a time after her departure. It’s also possible Halstead’s military background could come back into play by perhaps having him re-enlist or leave to run a program connected to the military.

This is all a long-winded way of saying there are plenty of options the writers could take that would allow for Halstead’s exit from the show without killing the character off. And while there is always a chance the writers could choose to kill the character off, it seems unlikely that they’ll take that route… at least at this time.

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