Jesse Lee Soffer's exit still stings for a large contingency of Chicago PD fans. The actor's decision to step away from the procedural drama led to a series of writing decisions that rubbed a lot of viewers the wrong way. Soffer's character, Jay Halstead quit the IU and effectively abandoned his wife, Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos), whom he would eventually divorce.
This did not really gel with the Halstead that we had gotten to know and love, and the fact that Upton left Chicago PD a season later meant we would never get the chance to see them reconcile, or come to terms with their split. A reconciliation, however, may be in store for Soffer's new character on FBI: International.
Soffer's FBI character confronts an ex
Soffer plays Wes Mitchell on the FBI spinoff, and his relationship came to an end in the very first episode of season 4. Mitchell and FBI Agent Ella Driscoll (Jade Tailor) called it quits, and the bulk of the season has played out with little mention of the latter. Driscoll returned in the episode "They May Get Their Wish," however, and will continue to play a role in the episode "Little Angel."
"You have no idea how good it feels to know that I can still count on you," Driscoll tells Mitchell during their Budapest rendezvous. "It’s really good to see you." The impetus for the meeting was a case, but it's clear that there's still some romantic tension between the FBI agents. It's a connection some fans didn't expect to get, and it's precisely the sort of connection we wish occurred on Chicago PD.
Chicago PD didn't give fans an Upstead reunion
The One Chicago spinoff did a good job of rounding off Upton's character arc in season 12, and giving her a sense of hope as she leaves the IU behind. The lack of resolution regarding Halstead, however, has hurt the legacies of both characters. They were set to go down as the most beloved couple in the show's history, but their conclusion was both anticlimactic and underbaked.
The divorce clearly took an emotional toll on Upton, but we never got Halstead's perspective. From the perspective of the show, the historically attentive and heroic character had simply taken off and paid no mind to those he once loved. FBI: International has had much less time with Soffer as an actor but it looks like the show will be able to offer some romantic closure for his character, even if it doesn't lead to Mitchell and Driscoll getting back together. We appreciate it.