‘Never say never’: Jesse Lee Soffer addresses his controversial exit on Season 10 of NBC's 'Chicago PD'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Jesse Lee Soffer has left the building. He had announced he was leaving prior to the premiere of season 10 of NBC's police procedural TV series 'Chicago PD'. Jay Halstead controversial exit comes just three episodes into the new season. Although fans were sad, there was some hope left for the original lead to come back. But, it seems that Jesse Lee Soffer doesn't want to come back to the show, even though the production team has seemingly kept their door open for the lead by sending him away rather than killing him off. The exit was quite heartbreaking for Halstead, as he'd resigned from the Intelligence Unit to work with the military in Bolivia to track down drug cartels. He left his job and his wife, Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos), behind.
As Halstead was a founding member of Hank Voight's Intelligence, his exit was heartbreaking, but the writers' room is under fire about the 'uncharateristic' exit that does not fit in well with what we know of the character and his mindset.
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'I feel so bad for the fans'
After a controversial and uncharacteristic exit from the show, Soffer talked about his possible return to the show as he feels bad for the fans who supported and cheered for him for more than a decade on the show, "Never say never. I feel so bad for the fans that are like, ‘Is he going to come back?’ ‘What’s he going to do?’ ‘What’s going on with him and Hailey?... I like to think — and I hope the fans think this too — that he’s just in another country right now, doing what he does best and making the world a safer place. In a family, sometimes somebody moves away or goes to college somewhere else. I still love it. I still love the fans. And I still love Halstead. Halstead’s always going to be in my blood. That’s never going to change." per Variety.
“I really wanted to grow and expand, and we’ve only got this one trip. If I signed up again, it would have been for another three years. I would have turned 40 on the show. I thought, ‘You know what? It’s time to take a risk,’” he says. “It was one of the toughest decisions I’ve ever had to make in my life. Let’s be honest: I love the fans of our show so much, and I love my fans. I know that they’re still grieving this, and to some degree, I am too.” added Soffer.
'Why is he doing this?!'
It seems like fans on the internet aren't over Jay Halstead leaving 'Chicago PD' and are hoping for his comeback. In an interview with Variety, Soffer discussed about his fans constantly messaging him or tweeting about his comeback, "I know the fans are upset because, like, ‘This isn’t the Jay that we know and love! Why isn’t he calling? Why is he doing this?!’ But, you know, the show must go on,” he explains. “I don’t think I really have the right to feel any way about that. The writers have to do what they have to do to service the story and the characters that are still there. Also, our show’s pretty dark, and they love diving into the ugliest, hardest version of life. So for Hailey to have to go through this, it probably just made sense."