Tracy Spiridakos Shares Reason Behind 'Chicago P.D.' Exit

Spiridakos' last episode of 'Chicago P.D.' airs tonight, May 22, at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.

By Megan Behnke

Chicago P.D. is preparing to say goodbye to Hailey Upton, and Tracy Spiridakos is revealing why she's calling it quits. The actress joined the NBC drama at the end of Season 4 as Detective Hailey Upton, working Homicide. She joined full-time in Season 5 to replace Sophia Bush, and Hailey made the move to Intelligence. Since then, she has been an integral part of the series and the unit, but last year, it was revealed that Spiridakos would be leaving sometime in Season 11. Unfortunately, that time has now come.

Fans will be saying their final goodbyes to Spiridakos as Hailey in the Season 11 finale, airing tonight, May 22, on NBC. She opened up to Variety about why she decided to leave, revealing, "I decided at the end of my sixth season, which is when I had reached out to Gwen and to everyone at Wolf to let them know that I just wanted to do one more year." She continued, "It was a hard decision – very, very hard. I love everybody on the show – cast, crew, producers, writers, everybody. It's such an incredible team. I was just curious what was out there for me and wanted to switch it up, and that was it."

Spiridakos' exit comes not long after on-screen husband Jesse Lee Soffer bowed out at the beginning of Season 10 after playing Detective Jay Halstead since the beginning. Jay had left Intelligence to help out with the Army in Bolivia, but his departure marked a challenging time for Upstead and even more so in Season 11. Now, with Hailey's departure on the horizon, it's going to be hard to say goodbye to the other half of the fan-favorite couple.

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Meanwhile, the Season 11 finale will pick up after last week's cliffhanger, which saw Jason Beghe's Sergeant Hank Voight get taken by serial killer Frank Matson. The hour will see the team trying to rescue him and outsmart Matson. How they will bring Voight home and how and why Hailey decides to leave will surely be interesting to see. Perhaps they will finally bring back Soffer on-screen to close out Hailey's storyline, but one can dream.

Tune into the Season 11 finale of Chicago P.D. tonight at 10 p.m. ET on NBC to say goodbye to Tracy Spiridakos as Detective Hailey Upton. All episodes are streaming on Peacock.

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