Chicago P.D.'s Season 8 came to an end that was intense even by P.D. standards, with Burgess' fate uncertain, Hailey Upton with blood on her hands thanks to Hank Voight, and Jay Halstead in the dark about what she did and why she was suddenly proposing to him. The finale ended without revealing his answer, and fans will have to wait until the upcoming Season 9 premiere to find out what's up with Upstead in Season 9, but actor Jesse Lee Soffer recently spoke with CinemaBlend about the aftermath of Upton's big secret and proposal.
With the Season 9 premiere of Chicago P.D. fast-approaching, some answers are on the way, and Jesse Lee Soffer shed some light on what to expect. In true Chicago P.D. form, what comes next isn't going to be simple. When I asked about when Halstead will start to pick up that something is wrong after Upton popped the question, Jesse Lee Soffer explained:
Well, Jay is a detective. So I would think sooner rather than later. But you know, good storytelling takes a little time. So there are moments where I kind of played with like, is he keying in on something? Is he not? But really, it's going to take a few episodes for him to get super suspicious and decide 'I'm going to do some snooping around and get to the bottom of what's going on.' So I would say a few episodes.
Don't expect the storyline with Upton's big secret and Halstead being kept in the dark to be resolved in their first scene of the episode, or even by the time the final credits roll on the Season 9 premiere! As Jesse Lee Soffer noted, Jay is a detective; if Upton's shellshocked status at the end of Season 9 is any indication, he might be the detective in Intelligence who is thinking the most clearly.
It should be interesting to see whether or not Chicago P.D. delivers a time jump. Based on the promo for the new season of One Chicago, P.D. will at least pick up shortly after it left off in the Season 8 finale, since Burgess is clearly in pretty bad shape. If a few episodes of Upton keeping the secret translates to months passing with a time jump, things could get even more complicated.
Of course, Halstead and Upton's relationship got pretty serious pretty quickly thanks to already having so much history with each other, but Halstead was also on the same page as Atwater about doing things by the book in the finale, even with Burgess' life on the line. In response to the question of where he thinks Halstead's loyalties would lie upon finding out the truth, Jesse Lee Soffer shared:
You know what, all of those things are transitional, though. Like at some point, it could be Jay that's not on the straight and narrow. You know, it hasn't been in the past. And Jay's kept things from Voight and lied and covered stuff up. So right now, yes, Hailey is going to be, I think, guilt-ridden and tormented by what happened at the end of Season 8. You're going to see how that plays out with her and Voight. And then with Jay and Voight when Jay finds out. And then obviously, between Jay and Hailey, it's going to cause probably some distrust. You know, it's a huge secret she was keeping for a while. But all of that will be some juicy stuff for the fans, that's for sure.
Jesse Lee Soffer certainly wasn't kidding about Halstead straying from the straight and narrow in the past, and he's actually taken more than one bullet after bending the rules. Even in Season 8, he had some moments of crossing lines and wondering if he would stay within the bounds of the law if he couldn't get justice for somebody he loves. It seems that the secret will cause some problems between Halstead and Upton, and with Halstead and Voight as well.
As somebody who has been Team Upton ever since Voight more or less turned what was a good shoot of a cop saving her sergeant's life into a very dirty secret, I'm hoping that Halstead finds out the whole truth and has some harsher words for Voight than Upton. Then again, if Upton is the one wracked by guilt, she might be more willing to take blame than Voight based on her character to this point.
Still, fans can only speculate until the time comes for Season 9 to premiere and reveal how exactly Halstead handles the next round of hurdles that are coming his way, as well as how Upton and Voight face the aftermath of killing the bad guy and hiding the body, and whether or not poor Burgess will survive her latest tragedy. Honestly, if she survives, I wouldn't blame her if she decides to retire from CPD and do something that involves way less violence! She's had a rough couple of seasons.
Be sure to stay tuned to CinemaBlend for plenty more coverage of One Chicago, as all three shows will be back on NBC on Wednesday, September 22 with Chicago Med at 8 p.m. ET, Chicago Fire at 9 p.m. ET, and Chicago P.D. closing out the night at 10 p.m. ET.
