Jesse Lee Soffer on possible Chicago PD return: ‘Never say never’

From the moment Chicago PD first premiered, Detective Jay Halstead was at the heart of the show and became a fan-favorite character among fans. A large part of this was due to Jesse Lee Soffer’s portrayal of the character,  as Soffer perfectly captured the heart of the character making him the moral compass of the Intelligence Unit.

As an original member of the cast, Soffer appeared in nearly 200 episodes of the show before deciding to step away early on in season 10. While his character is alive and well, which left the door open for him to return, his exit has left quite a noticeable hole in the show which they writers haven’t yet been able to fill.

Chicago PD will be coming back for another season in 2024, but will Jesse Lee Soffer be returning when season 11 finally arrives?

Is Jesse Lee Soffer coming back for Chicago PD season 11?

Unfortunately, we’re not expecting Jesse Lee Soffer to return as part of the Chicago PD season 11 cast following his departure from the series early in season 10. When making the decision to leave the series last season, Soffer did so because he felt it was time to move on and take new risks in his career.

“I’ve thought so hard about how to answer this question — and there’s no good answer. Except I was ready for more,” Soffer told Variety following his exit in February. “I really wanted to grow and expand, and we’ve only got this one trip. If I signed up again, it would have been for another three years. I would have turned 40 on the show. I thought, ‘You know what? It’s time to take a risk.'”

When asked whether he would consider donning the badge and gun again, Soffer remarked: “Never say never.”

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It’s worth noting that Soffer continues to be a huge part of Chicago PD behind the scenes. He’s posed for photos with fellow cast members, and he returned to the show to make his directing debut with the season 10 episode “Deadlocked”. It seems like he has an interest in directing more episodes, and admitted to having a lot of fun being around his old friends.

“It was like I never left”, Soffer told Deadline in March. “We were hanging out and we were goofing off, then we’re cameras rolling and we’re working bringing the scenes to life. We have one of the hardest working crew and cast in TV—I feel confident saying that. It was great to be with everybody.”

With Soffer in the mix intermittently as a director, we can’t rule out that he’d return to make a cameo as Halstead– especially with the recent news that his onscreen wife, Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos), will be leaving PD in the upcoming season. It’s unlikely, but not impossible.

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