That was fast. After his final episode aired on October 5, Chicago P.D.‘s Jesse Lee Soffer will return to direct an episode of the NBC crime drama in Season 10.
Soffer will direct Chicago P.D. Season 10 Episode 16, according to Variety. The episode is set to air in 2023. The actor played Detective Jay Halstead for nine seasons of the law enforcement procedural. He first appeared in Chicago Fire before the Chicago P.D. series debut. Halstead’s exit was staged in Season 10 Episode 3, “A Good Man,” in which he left Chicago behind to take an army job in Bolivia.
The episode began with a clear emotional disconnect between Jay and his partner and wife, Detective Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos). After an eye-opening experience on the job, Jay resigned from Intelligence, later admitting to Hailey that he had changed.
To give his life the change he felt it needed, Jay decided to return to Bolivia to run a squad tracking down its worst cartels, “It’s black and white. It’s good and bad. It’s right and wrong. It’s no more of this. I need that. I need that back,” he told Hailey in the episode. He flew out that same day but promised his wife it wasn’t forever. “It’s eight months, maybe a little longer, but I swear to you that we’re going to get through this because you’re the love of my life. And if I’m yours, then you’ll know that you have to let me go.”
Soffer thanked Chicago P.D. fans after the episode aired, tweeting, “For anyone that’s ever been a Halstead fan, I just want you to know that I’m grateful. Thank you for going on this journey with me. I’m just grateful.”
While his absence will be felt on screen, Halstead fans will undoubtedly be excited for Soffer’s return behind the camera. But it does continue to raise questions about why he left in the first place.
Chicago P.D., Wednesdays, 10/9c, NBC