'Chicago P.D.' Season 7': Why Jay Halstead is poised to take over from Voight in the long run
Jay Halstead, played by Jesse Lee Soffer, is a highly capable and principled detective. We met Jay when he guest-starred as an undercover cop (not yet part of the Intelligence Unit) on 'Chicago Fire' investigating a corrupt landlord suspected of setting fire to Molly's bar. When the first season of 'Chicago P.D.' premiered, Jay had been part of the team for a month. Senior to him, in addition to Hank Voight (Jason Beghe), the head of the Intelligence Unit, were Sophia Bush's Erin Lindsay, Elias Koteas's Alvin Olinsky, and Jon Seda's Antonio Dawson. Over the past few seasons, Bush, Koteas and most recently, Seda have left the show, leaving Jay the senior on the team behind Voight.
While Jay Halstead was more popular with fans for his relationship with Lindsay, since Sophia Bush's exit, 'Chicago P.D.' has been exploring the character beyond his relationship to Lindsay and even his brother Will (Nick Gehlfuss on 'Chicago Med'). In Season 4, viewers got to see Jay deal with his unresolved feelings over his father, his PTSD, and a growing friendship with Tracy Spiridakos's Hailey Upton. His protective nature also came to light, not just when he shielded Upton from a spray of bullets, but also when he asked Voight to let himself take some heat off Adam Ruzek (Patrick Flueger) during the Internal Affairs investigation. Towards the end of the season, Voight even tells Jay that the unit will be his someday.
The promo for the upcoming seasons of the 'Chicago' franchise indicates that Voight and Jay will be butting heads with respect to how investigations are conducted. This is nothing new for Voight - he has gone through this with Antonio as well, while Olinsky, like Ruzek, would follow Voight's orders without questioning him. If Jay does end up being the head of the Intelligence Unit, he will do so in his own way. From what we have seen so far, Jay Halstead is a loyal cop, but also one who will not stop questioning if he needs to. Voight's questionable methods may catch up to him one day, and it could be Jay who picks up the pieces of the unit after.
