Spoilers ahead for the Season 7 finale of Chicago P.D. on NBC.
Chicago P.D. brought its seventh season to an end several episodes short of the original order due to the production halts across the television industry, and there are some big questions left about what's up with Upton. She crossed over to FBI after Voight thought she could learn a thing or two about not crossing lines from OA and Co. on CBS, but she never made it back to Chicago before P.D. wrapped Season 7, and that may complicate things in Season 8.
According to Chicago P.D. showrunner Rick Eid in a chat with TV Insider, the early shutdowns of both FBI and P.D. may require some rethinking for Upton in Season 8:
Upton was scheduled to return to CPD for Episodes 21 through 23, but the premature shutdown obviously changed all that. As for how much her FBI experience changed her … We might have to rethink all that since she ended up only working on one case with the FBI. Our original plan was to see a significant change in Hailey, but I'm not sure that makes sense anymore in light of recent events.
Season 7 of Chicago P.D. ended on Episode 20, with Upton still in New York with the FBI team. In fact, Tracy Spiridakos previously revealed to CinemaBlend that she'd "started to shoot a second episode" of the CBS series but the production cutoff meant it couldn't be finished. Upton would have had a few weeks and at least two cases with the FBI to go through a significant change.
Now, with Upton apparently returning to Chicago in Season 8 after just one episode of FBI, it might not make sense for her to have gone through radical changes. Her first case with the FBI was pretty intense, but at least it ended with a breakthrough of sorts with her temporary partner.
Personally, I find myself wondering how much of Upton's arc throughout Season 7 was actually geared toward Voight having a reason to send her to FBI. If she was going to change after the crossover episodes and perhaps go back to the straight and narrow, might the plan have been for her to stop emulating Voight for Episodes 21-23 in Season 7 and beyond?
After all, Rick Eid has largely been teasing developments on the Upstead front rather than Upton continuing to go down a dark path, fueled by the scene of Upton and Halstead chatting in the finale before the case of the week made everything a whole lot less cute.
All of this said, at least fans don't have to spend what could be a very long hiatus wondering if Tracy Spiridakos will return to Chicago P.D. or stick around FBI for the long run. She will be back on Chicago P.D.; it's just a question of how much it makes sense for Upton to be different in Season 8. Based on some of Rick Eid's comments about how P.D. will handle its original plan for the deadly Season 7 finale, I suspect that early Season 8 could play out much like late Season 7 was intended.
Still, we can only wait and see. With all three One Chicago series finished for the 2019-2020 TV season (and their season finales ranked from worst to best) and other shows winding down due to production halts as well, be sure to swing by our spring premiere schedule and our summer premiere guide to find what you definitely can look forward to on the small screen in the coming months.
