‘Chicago P.D.’ Boss Teases Halstead and Upton Romance on the Horizon

Chicago P.D. is bringing a possible romance into the forefront in upcoming episodes that fans have been waiting to happen for a long time. The NBC police drama has many partnerships and relationships shifting in Season 7, and fans have been waiting for Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer) and Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos) to explore their feelings for each other.

Series showrunner Rick Eid seemed to hint at the detectives finally taking the first step toward a possible relationship very soon. In a new interview, the producer talked about the tension between the two characters, as well as teasing a possible reconciliation for another fan-favorite duo.

“I think their relationship will continue to grow and there’s definitely a romantic undercurrent to their relationship, and whether it’s acted upon or not, you got to keep watching to see,” Eid vaguely teased to HollywoodLife.

Eid also responded to the interviewer’s comments that the tension between both characters was palpable.

“Good! Then we’re doing our job!” he responded.

He also gave fans a hopeful hint about the future of Ruzek (Patrick John Flueger) and Burgess (Marina Squerciati). The pair were part of a fan-favorite couple earlier on the show but broke up some time ago.

“There’s hope!” Eid said. “Once we get cooking into the season, their relationship will become very interesting. I’ll leave it at that.”

One partnership that is in serious danger is that between Voight (Jason Beghe) and Halstead after the events of the season premiere. The detective was suspicious that Voight had been responsible for Kelton’s (John C. McGinley) murder and even questioned him when he refused to talk about his whereabouts at the time of the crime.

The argument led to the reveal Voight had taken Antonio (Jon Seda) to a rehab clinic the night of the murder but he was keeping it secret to keep the detective’s job safe — despite Seda’s exit as a series regular. The animosity continued when the team discovered Katherine Brennan (Anne Heche) as the killer. Halstead disobeyed Voight’s orders to stay back and arrested Katherine before she ended her life.

The move led to a big war of words between Halstead and Voight that led to an ultimatum – if he can’t trust Voight, then he must leave the team.

“I think it’ll be complicated going forward,” Eid said of their future. “There’ll be tension. I think they’ll try to get past it. I think there’s always going to be some underlying tension and conflict between the two of them, regardless of how much each respects the other.”

Chicago P.D. airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.