Chicago P.D. actress Tracy Spiridakos gave a recent interview where she spoke about what her character is going through on the show.
For years, Tracy has been playing Detective Hailey Upton, a primary member of the Intelligence Unit working for Hank Voight.
Hailey is also married to Detective Jay Halstead, who ended up leaving Chicago because he felt the need to re-enlist in the U.S. Army to really make a difference.
On Chicago P.D. Season 10, Episode 12, Hailey finally learned a very hard truth, as Jay is not coming home anytime soon.
The spoilers about actor Jesse Lee Soffer (he played Jay) leaving the show for good have been well-known to most fans by now, but Hailey was living in a state of denial on the show itself.
When she broke down after learning that her husband had extended his tour without telling her, viewers finally saw her character emotionally feel the situation.
Tracy Spiridakos speaks about Hailey Upton’s journey
“She finds out that he’s extended his stay and has that break down moment of having this hope and then all of a sudden, that’s gone,” Tracy told Variety in a new interview.
“It’s the first time we see her break down since he’s left, since their goodbye. I think there’s gonna be some changes for her over the next little while,” Tracy went on to tease fans about what’s to come.
Detective Upton and Intelligence
Within the Intelligence team, Detective Upton is an important cog in how they do their jobs. If Hailey has a shift in how she is surviving now that she is on her own, it’s bound to have an impact on her co-workers.
“I do think she is becoming a better cop. I feel like that is her trajectory,” Tracy explained.
“On a personal level, I can imagine that there’s gonna be a part of her that shuts down emotionally,” she added.
It’s true that Hailey is already acting differently on the job without Jay around, but it hasn’t all been necessarily good. In the past, she would have done almost anything to save a suspect so they would face a trial, but she was willing to let villain Sean O’Neal just die after they found out what he did.
Coming up on Chicago P.D.
In the next new episode of Chicago P.D., the focal point will be an informant getting killed. Voight is called in to help ASA Chapman, but that’s not the only big wrinkle to the night.
Early promotional photos indicate that Alvin Olinsky will be referenced again, which already created a lot of rumors about what the writers might be doing with that story thread.
This makes it seem like the Upstead story arc will take a back seat in the short term, as Intelligence is going to be put to work in a big way.
Chicago P.D. airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on NBC.