Despite the three shows of NBC's One Chicago airing their last episodes for a full month this week, fans of the Windy City franchise have a lot to celebrate while the Winter Olympics take over Wednesdays in the 2026 TV schedule. A promo for the upcoming crossover event was released to tease a whole lot more than just the usual elevated crisis that needs the heroes of all three shows.
Jesse Lee Soffer and Tracy Spiridakos are returning as Halstead and Upton years after leaving Chicago P.D., and it means fans could finally see a grave mistake undone… if only P.D. follows the example set by Chicago Med earlier this season
Jesse Lee Soffer And Tracy Spiridakos Are Coming Back
After the crossover promo confirmed that Halstead and Upton will be part of the three-hour event, the Chicago P.D. cast was celebrating on social media. A cute video was posted to show Marina Squerciati and LaRoyce Hawkins interrogating their former co-stars about coming back, with Soffer reposting it via an Instagram Story. Check it out:
Meanwhile, Marina Squerciati used her own Instagram account to post a “date night” photo with Soffer and Spiridakos with “Upsteadgess's BACK!” as her caption. Spiridakos went on to post it on her own Story, with Etta James’ “At Last” playing over it.
If only Patrick John Flueger appeared in any of the posts, it would have felt like the full Intelligence Unit under Voight was back together! He may not have returned from his leave of absence at the time that the crossover was being filmed, so I’m not counting on seeing Ruzek back with Upton and Halstead.
Why Are The Characters Coming Back?
While we may have to wait for the three-parter in March for many details about the returns of Upstead, there are some early answers available. The former spouses will both be back, but they’re not returning as a team. Halstead, who left Chicago in early Season 10 in 2022 to abruptly rejoin the army, turns up after being deeply undercover on a drug case.
Meanwhile, Upton’s open-ending in Season 11 led her to become an FBI agent working out of the Detroit field office, and she returns to Chicago as part of a drug enforcement task force. This will lead her to cross paths with her ex-husband, and based on the promo, she won’t exactly be jumping for joy. Take a look:
Once I got over the jolt of shock not only that Upton and Halstead were both returning in the same episode but also that One Chicago kept it a secret for so long, I remembered why I can’t blame for Upton looking less than thrilled to see Halstead again, and it goes back to what I see as one of P.D.’s worst missteps of the past five or so years.
Chicago P.D.’s Grave Mistake With Upstead
What I see as a major mistake from Chicago P.D. actually happened back in October 2022, with the reveal of what would take Halstead from the Intelligence Unit after the news of Jesse Lee Soffer’s exit. There wasn’t much build to Halstead’s decision to depart, so his choice to rejoin the army and abandon his wife felt painfully abrupt.
At the time, I tried to focus on just being happy that P.D. didn’t kill him off to explain the actor’s absence, but his final scene with Upton still stings to this day. It involved grand but tearful declarations that they were the loves of each other’s lives, and an emotional kiss goodbye to go along with his promise he’d come back to her.
That would have added some sweetness to the bitter of his exit… if only it wasn’t confirmed that Jesse Lee Soffer was leaving the series, so fans knew that Halstead wasn’t going to be keeping any promises to come back.
Leaving their relationship that way was so desperately sad in early Season 10 that it pretty much guaranteed that Upton’s ending would be sad in late Season 11, when Tracy Spiridakos left Chicago P.D. All of Upton's fears and insecurities came back after Halstead left, and then he proceeded to ghost her and extend his service without telling her.
It was impossible – for me, at least – to not be mad at Halstead in absentia while watching what she was going through, and she was still running herself ragged even after signing the divorce papers. Throw in the fact that Upton’s closest relationship in Intelligence became with Voight of all people, and how Halstead’s exit was written just continued to cause negative ripples as the seasons passed. Even Burzek getting married didn’t soothe the sting of how Upstead ended.
But now, One Chicago could fix it.
How To Make Amends, Chicago Med-Style
In case it seems like Upton and Halstead presumably returning just for the crossover doesn’t seem like enough time for them to come back together, I’ll just point you to Chicago Med reuniting Nick Gehlfuss and Torrey DeVitto for one episode back in Manstead’s old stomping grounds as an example of a happy ending being set up and then delivered within the course of an hour.
The episode, which is available streaming with a Peacock subscription now, started with Owen circling the drain after being shot and ended with Will happily agreeing to adopt Owen as his own while Natalie was heavily pregnant with their baby. Their ending was still nearly as open as when he made his first surprise visit to Seattle, but a happy kind of open.
And Jay Halstead would do well to follow his brother’s example! Considering that there’s a whole crisis to drive the crossover and the series regular casts of three shows to balance, I’m not really expecting Upton and Halstead to have all that much screentime until the Chicago P.D. hour of the three-parter, so there’s not going to be much time for them to hash out all of their issues stemming from how he left her back in 2022.
But I don’t need everything to happen on screen, as long as the crossover makes me let go of my grudge against Halstead for what he did in abandoning Upton and gives Upstead some kind of happy ending. Surely there’s no reason not to give them a happy ending now that they’re not series regulars anymore, right?
An open ending on good terms is all I’m asking for, and it could be enough to finally add some sweet to the bitterness of how the good ship Upstead floundered and sank. And if Chicago Med could deliver what Manstead fans were waiting for in just one episode, why can't P.D. do the same for Upstead fans and the crossover?
Whether you’re an Upstead fan or not, there are still several weeks to wait before finding out what One Chicago has in store for them as guest stars. The crossover event with Jesse Lee Soffer and Tracy Spiridakos back in the mix will air on NBC after the end of the 2026 Winter Olympics, on Wednesday, March 4 at 8 p.m. ET. In the meantime, you can always revisit earlier episodes of the franchise streaming on Peacock.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
