Tracy Spiridakos’ Hailey Upton went on a wild ride throughout Chicago P.D. Season 7, which culminated with a visit to FBI as the first crossover between NBC’s One Chicago and CBS’ FBI/FBI: Most Wanted shared universes. While Upton won’t be back with Chicago P.D.’s Intelligence ahead of the Season 7 finale, Spiridakos spoke with CinemaBlend ahead of her crossover to FBI about the Upton/Rojas bond, Upton’s vulnerability and more.
After addressing the bond between Upton and Halstead, Tracy Spiridakos shared what the bond between Upton and Rojas has meant for her character in the seventh season:
I think she has this big sister thing with [Rojas]. I think they had an instant [bond]. Hailey just wants to be there for her and protect her, and I think especially now that they are roommates, she just wants to be there for her and it's been really fun to see. And my gosh, Lisseth [Chavez] is the sweetest person on the planet, so in real life too it's just been lovely. But as a character, I think it's fun to see Hailey's soft side, and so often we see it with Halstead. Whenever there's a soft little vulnerable spot, we see it there. But I've loved how much we've gotten to see it with Rojas, just because I think Hailey is really guarded and she tries to keep her emotions locked in.
Despite Upton’s feelings for Halstead becoming more intense in Season 7, Tracy Spiridakos explained that moving in with Rojas and forming that bond opened Upton up to further vulnerability. Considering Halstead has had some complications of his own throughout Season 7, the additional bond between Upton and Rojas may have come at the best time for everybody involved.
Of course, the bond between Upton and Rojas resulted in Upton taking a drastic step that resulted in her crossover to FBI. After planting drugs to catch a bad guy and help a man Rojas loves get a deal from prosecution, Voight decided she’d gone too far and needed the FBI to teach her to stop crossing lines. According to Tracy Spiridakos, this episode and moment with Rojas resulted in some heartbreak. Here’s how she put it:
And then watching Rojas have that moment where she's in the interview room and she's talking and she's crying and we see Hailey watching her and her heart breaking, that somebody she cares so much about is going through this. I just think it's been really interesting to play and really cool to get to see somebody who's really tough and is a badass in so many ways, and then also is really soft and vulnerable, and that doesn't mean you have to be one or the other. Those things live inside of her at the same time.
While Upton has shown her vulnerability at certain points throughout her run on Chicago P.D. so far, her family history is all but guaranteed to force Upton’s soft side to surface. Halstead was Upton’s anchor when she finally opened up about her father’s abuse in Season 7, but the episode made it pretty clear that the show had only scratched the surface of Upton’s childhood.
Tracy Spiridakos weighed in on the possibility of more development regarding Upton’s family story in Season 8:
I don't know anything, to be honest. [laughs] We kind of find things out as they come along. But I would love to get to see more of it and I think that's the other really cool thing about Hailey is that there's so much of her that's a mystery, and as the seasons go on we get to see a little bit about her and a little bit more and a little bit more. It's been fun for me to get to play and I think getting to watch her, not knowing what's coming up next, not knowing anything really about her. It's been really interesting.
While Upton’s family backstory might not be a happy one, Chicago P.D. will have plenty of time to tell it. Along with Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, and Law & Order: SVU, Chicago P.D. received a renewal order for a massive three more seasons. Assuming Upton sticks around for a few more years, P.D. has plenty of episodes to potentially expand on what made Upton the way she is.
As for that massive renewal, Tracy Spiridakos shared her immediate reaction to the news and how she found out:
I was so excited! How lovely! I was actually in New York when that got announced and our beautiful cast and crew FaceTimed me from set when they found out, and I was in New York in my trailer, and we were all screaming, just so excited. Very very cool. So exciting. And there's such a great group of people to get to be around. I'm thrilled for everybody.
Sadly, Chicago P.D. will wrap for Season 7 with Upton still working with OA and Co. on FBI, so she won’t be hitting the streets of Chicago with Halstead (who has already admitted to missing her) or the rest of Intelligence for the Atwater-centric finale. Although CBS hasn’t officially renewed or cancelled FBI at this point, Tracy Spiridakos has already promised that Upton will be back when P.D. resumes on NBC next season.
You can catch the final episode of Chicago P.D. Season 7 on Wednesday, April 15 at 10 p.m. ET on NBC, following the finales of Chicago Fire at 9 p.m. ET and Chicago Med at 8 p.m. ET.
