We all know the writing is on the wall for Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos). We knew she was going to leave before season 11 even premiered. The thing that's been a point of speculation, though, is when it would happen. Neither the cast nor Chicago PD showrunner Gwen Sigan shed light on when the IU veteran would be putting down her badge.
The further the season wore on, though, the more it became clear that the show wasn't going to pull a Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer), which is to say, get rid of the character in the first couple episodes of the season. Upton has been around for the first ten episodes of the season, but the closer we get to the finale, the more we have to question which episode will be her last.
Hailey Upton will leave in the season 11 finale
NBC has indirectly confirmed that Upton will be around until the season 11 finale. It made sense to write the character off the during a finale episode, but it wasn't confirmed until the network put out photos for the episodes leading up to the finale. Sure enough, Upton is present in all of them.
The show won't be pulling a bait-and-switch, or outsmarting the viewer by having the character dip out an episode or two earlier. It will be building out the reasons for Upton's departure bit by bit, with an emphasis on the character during its last few episodes.
The photos for "Water Line" confirm that Upton is back in the mix alongside Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) and Kevin Atwater (LaRoyce Hawkins). Atwater will be the central focus of 11011 from a case perspective, but Upton will still be front-and-center in a dramatic sense.
Upton is leading the case in the episode "Inventory"
The character has also been spotted in the promo photos for the following episode, "Inventory," which will serve as the penultimate episode of season 11. The synopsis for the episode confirms that Upton and Josephine Petrovic (Bojana Novakovic) will be picking up where a previous case left off:
"Intelligence chases down a lead in the ongoing serial killer investigation as news of the case reaches the public."
It's a bit of a relief to know we still has a few more weeks with Upton before she takes off. We just hope that the circumstances in which she leaves the show are positive, rather than negative. And we especially hope that she doesn't get killed off..