Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer) and Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos) talking in Chicago P.D. Image via NBC

Published Oct 14, 2026, 7:24 PM EDT

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After a five-year hiatus, the One Chicago franchise relaunched the crossover episode between its three series with 2025's "In the Trenches" to well-deserved success, bringing it back in 2026 with the equally-successful "Reckoning." The two are among the best of the One Chicago crossovers, although the latter almost had to be, given how one side story would have overshadowed a lesser effort. That was the reunion of Chicago P.D. alums Tracy Spiridakos' Hailey Upton and Jesse Lee Soffer's Jay Halstead for the first time since Season 10. Now, Soffer is back for Season 14's "Don't Blink," but there's a catch: He may be returning, but Jay Halstead is not.

Instead, Soffer returns to direct the episode, which sees long-time cast member LaRoyce Hawkins and his character, Kevin Atwater, exit the series. It's also not the first time he's done so: "Don't Blink" marks Soffer's fourth time in the director's chair for the series. The first came in Season 10's "Deadlocked," a mere three episodes following the revelation that Halstead extended the length of his assignment in Bolivia, one of the series' most heartbreaking moments. In it, Voight (Jason Beghe) takes the stand in a high-stakes murder trial that could fall apart after a juror is compromised. Soffer earned praise for his inaugural effort, with one armchair reviewer citing that Soffer pulled off "that dark, classic style that made the show great in its early seasons."

He'd return for Season 11's "Inventory," another strong entry where the team follows a new lead on their serial killer case. Ironically, it's also the episode that marks the beginning of the end of Hailey Upton's exit two episodes later. Soffer's third directorial effort would come in Season 13's "Open Wounds," the episode that served as a soft reintroduction of Officer Torres (Benjamin Levy Aguilar), who had largely been on the sidelines for the majority of the season to that point. While it wasn't up to par with his previous ventures, it stands as one of the season's better episodes.

The synopsis for "Don't Blink" reads: "A significant turning point in Atwater's life prompts him to make a decision about his future." Of course, we know that his decision prompts Atwater to leave the Intelligence Unit he's been on from the start, and that it comes following the birth of his son with Tasha (Karen Obilom). For a series whose report card for handling character exits is spotty, Atwater looks to be making one of its more graceful exits, as showrunner Gwen Sigan tells it:

"We really wanted to give [Atwater] something that felt super natural to his character, that felt like an organic place for him to get to. We wanted to give that character a sendoff that he deserves and something his character has earned and make it positive, in a way, for him."

And if anyone knows the importance of a proper sendoff, it's Jesse Lee Soffer, whose decidedly unpopular exit as Halstead should, if it doesn't already, be the epitome of how not to do it. Thankfully, that side story arc in "Reckoning" did much to repair the relationship not only with Upton, but with the Chicago P.D. fanbase by extension.

For those hoping that Soffer might return onscreen as Halstead, it's highly unlikely. "Reckoning" left Halstead and Upton in an ambiguous, but hopeful, place, and anything short of a grand wedding that reunites fan-favorite characters is unlikely to satisfy. Furthermore, Soffer has been cast in Strike Force, a new CBS series in development, as the lead, a DEA agent who returns home to Kansas City to "lead a multi-agency strike force targeting the violent criminals now trying to exploit America's heartland." That means the next time Soffer returns to Chicago's 21st District Intelligence Unit, it will likely be to direct for a fifth time, and if Sigan's reaction to his direction of "Don't Blink" is any indication — "Jesse directed it and killed it." — that opportunity will come along sooner than later.