Jesse Lee Soffer leaving Chicago PD, role of Jay Halstead
In a statement to Variety, the actor confirmed that he will be exiting the series during the upcoming season. The report notes that said exit will happen during the fall, though no specific reason was given at present. Take a look at the statement below for more:
“I want to thank the incredible fans for their unwavering support during the past 10 years and want to express my deepest gratitude to Dick Wolf and everyone at Wolf Entertainment, Peter Jankowski, Matt Olmstead, Derek Haas, Michael Brandt, Rick Eid, Gwen Sigan, NBC, Universal Television, my fellow castmates and our incredible crew … To create this hour drama week after week has been a labor of love by everyone who touches the show. I will always be proud of my time as Det. Jay Halstead.”
So why is this happening now? This is certainly a great, albeit quite perplexing, question. What is a bit odd is seeing this news come out the same month that Kelli Giddish is departing Law & Order: SVU, and then also reports that NBC is considering scaling back from three to two hours of original primetime programming a night. Is parent company NBCUniversal about to go the way of Warner Bros. Discovery and is cutting costs left and right? We wonder mostly because Soffer makes no mention of this exit being his choice, and we wonder if, like Giddish, there are larger issues at play here.
Soffer has been nothing but supportive of the One Chicago family over the years, and he seemed to genuinely enjoy tackling the nuances of this role. We wonder how Halstead will depart the show, and also what this means for his marriage to Hailey Upton. Suffice it to say, we are concerned…
What do you think about Jesse Lee Soffer leaving Chicago PD and his role of Jay Halstead?
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