Tracy Spiridakos Reveals the Reason For Her Exit From the Show Chicago P.D.
Tracy Spiridakos reveals why she decided to leave Chicago P.D. after the finale of season 11 in an interview with Variety. Spiridakos explains her exit and how she reached out about the decision.
She said she discussed the topic with the showrunner, Gwen Sigman, after the end of season 10. “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, “I wanted us to send out the character with one last season, It was a hard decision — very, very hard.”
Spiridakos also mentioned that the show had an incredible team and that she loved everybody on it, including the cast, crew, producers, and writers.
She added, “I was just curious what was out there for me and wanted to switch it up, and that was it.”
Spiridakos also talked about her character, Detective Hailey Upston Halsted, which she learned while playing all these years. She said, “One of my favorite things about her is her vulnerability … For me, I’m not great at vulnerability.” She continued, “So that’s something that I really love about her—that and how she is so much herself. She doesn’t care if you love her or if you don’t.”
Spiridakos joined Chicago P.D. in the fourth season as Hailey when a vacancy occurred after Erin Lindsay left for New York to work for the FBI’s Counter-Terrorism Bureau. She faced many ups and downs throughout her career while working in the Intelligence Unit. Hailey became the criminal’s primary target in one of their cases. She announced her exit in October 2023, months before the premiere of season 11.
Spiridakos appeared in 140 episodes of the show, and her finale episode aired on May 22. In the final episode, Hailey rescued Sergent Hank Voight from serial killer Frank Matson. Hailey attacked Matson, but in the process, she was shot, and In a near-death blur, Voight referring himself as her father. After they got out of the hospital, they had a heart-to-heart conversation.
She revealed to her boss that she needed to move on. In the final scene, Hailey searches for other jobs through different websites of FBI, FEMA, DEA, etc., and gets in a cab to head towards the airports.