‘Chicago P.D.’ Couple Gets Engaged in Season 9 Premiere

Chicago P.D. Season 9 started on Wednesday and included a major milestone for two characters. Det. Jay Halstead, played by Jesse Lee Soffer, proposed to Det. Hailey Upton, played by Tracy Spiridakos. However, their potential wedding could be far off into the future while other dramas in the show play out.

In the episode, titled “Closure,” the Intelligence Unit tried to save Officer Kim Burgess’ (Marina Squerciati) life by finding her kidnapper, even though Upton and Det. Sgt. Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) already killed the suspect. In the end, Burgess was found safely, but Voight warned Upton that she will never be able to “make peace” with how the suspect, Roy, was killed. This is a secret that is “eating away at her,” Spiridakos told TVLine after the premiere aired.

The episode ended with Halstead proposing to Upton. “Even though the motivation on Hailey’s side is murky because she’s obviously going through such an emotional moment with what she did and the guilt, there’s a real love between the two characters,” Soffer told TVLine. “For Jay to take the reins and go, ‘Okay, yeah, this is how I feel. Let’s do this,’ [it’s] important to see that he’s not just along for the ride, that this is something that he wants. I think it’s gonna be fun for the fans.”

Halstead will eventually learn the truth about Roy, but fans will have to keep watching the show on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC to find out how. But Halstead has his own secrets, Soffer noted. “There’s a clearer picture as to why Jay doesn’t want to talk about his time in the Army,” he teased.

It’s also not clear how soon a wedding will actually happen. Soffer told Us Weekly he doesn’t even know if his character will buy a ring. “I actually don’t have the answer to that, because look, you know, he proposes and all is well, until he starts going, ‘Wait a second, something’s wrong,’” he told the site Wednesday. “And obviously, Hailey’s guilt and the shame of what happened and keeping the secret and all this stuff, it’s going to eat at her. Obviously, Jay’s going to see that. So who knows what happens to that proposal?”

The former As The World Turns star said the proposal made perfect sense for his character and it was a natural progression. “If these feelings are genuine and I feel the same way then let me take some ownership and let me do it right, and I’ll own this too. He proposes right back and he makes it legitimate,” he told Us Weekly. “We’ve never seen Jay like that. He’s a pretty stoic character most of the time, so to see him vulnerable or to see him on the edges of vulnerability, I think it’s probably fun for the fans.”