The Chicago PD finale pulled off the biggest cameo of the season

Warning: The following post contains spoilers from the Chicago PD season 11 finale! 

We knew the Chicago PD season 11 finale was going to be full of shocking moments, but nothing – and I mean nothing – could have prepared us for the major cameo that came in the closing hour of the season! 

Heading into the finale, many had been holding out hopes that the finale could feature the return of Jesse Lee Soffer as Jay Hallstead and this was an understandable hope. With Upton leaving in the finale, fans hoped that maybe we’d get to see Halstead return as part of her sendoff storyline similar to how Torrey DeVitto returned to the Chicago Med season 8 finale last year for Nick Gehlfuss’s sendoff. 

Unfortunately, Soffer did not return for the episode, but the finale did bring back another major character from the past: Olinsky! 

Elias Koteas returns to Chicago PD for the first time since exit

In the season 11 finale, Matson put Voight through the wringer, torturing him and leaving Voight fighting for his life. As he went in and out of consciousness, Voight was visited by a familiar face who came to him in a hallucination: his former partner Alvin Olinsky! 

Elias Koteas made his return to Chicago PD six seasons after leaving the show at the end of season 5 when his character was killed off the show. In the moment, Voight began to fade out and seemed to be giving up when Al appeared to him and told his former partner “You don’t get to die yet.” This was just the kick Voight needed as it gave him the strength to rally and hold on long enough for Upton and the team to get to him, saving his life. 

The moment was one that left fans speechless and it seems it’s a moment the creative team has been working to pull off for years! As showrunner Gwen Sigan told TVLine following the finale, they’ve been working to bring Koteas back for years and this felt like the perfect way to bring him into the mix in an unexpected way. 

“[The finale] finally seemed like a perfect fit because the stories aligned and also, just logistically, you’ve got to get him in a place where he’s vulnerable enough physically to have some sort of hallucination,” Sigan revealed. “For years, we’ve been talking about how nice it would be to bring [Olinksky] back in some way. As soon as we knew it was going to happen, Elias was down, which I’m so grateful for.

They definitely managed to surprise fans who were elated to see Koteas reprise his role after all these years! While the One Chicago shows have brought back former actors after their exit, these returns have typically been reserved for actors whose characters were still alive on the show. Perhaps that's why the cameo caught us by surprise so much and will go down as the best cameo of the season for the One Chicago shows -- and perhaps all-time!