Here's how Hailey Upton left Chicago PD during the season 11 finale

Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos) is gone. The veteran Chicago PD character walked away from the IU in the season 11 finale, and embarked on the next chapter of her life. It was hard to watch, even if we all knew it was coming. A season to prepare still didn't feel like enough.

Especially given the stressful circumstances in which the character is leaving. She didn't get an easy case to go out on, she got a harrowing, life-or-death race against the clock to save her boss and one of her oldest friends, Hank Voight (Jason Beghe), get kidnapped. Did she succeed? Did Upton quit the IU or did she die in the line of duty?

SPOILERS for Chicago PD season 11 episode 13

The Voight rescue mission was more a piece of straw breaking the camel's back than the direct motivator for Upton to quit the IU. The character, along with the rest of the team, manages to save their boss and take out the serial killer, but the emotional toll proved to be too much for her. It was time for a change.

Chicago PD had been angling towards this resolution for most of season 11. There wasn't a way for Upton to rectify her current path while still being a part of the IU, and as such, she needed to walk away and start fresh somewhere else. That doesn't mean her decision was an easy one to watch.

Upton decided she needed a life change

The character arrived at her decision to join the FBI with Voight, and the two characters held hands before hugging. It was a heartbreaking moment beautifully played by both Beghe and Spiridakos, and it echoed the scene they shared during the first episode of the season.

Upton didn't appear to say goodbye to the rest of the IU, which feels like a missed opportunity in some ways and a truthful narrative decision in others. The character is clearly struggling to move on, so a big emotional farewell would have only complicated things.

The last scene shows Upton getting in a taxi and heading off to the airport. She looks happier than we've gotten to see all season, affirming that she made the right decision in the end.