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Chicago PD Boss Breaks Down Upstead’s Dynamic And ‘Fallout’ After Season 10 Premiere, Plus Voight Conflict

September 22, 2022

Spoilers ahead for the Season 10 premiere of Chicago PDtitled “Let It Bleed”.

Chicago PD returned to NBC for season 10 as the only One Chicago show with an immediate time jump, though – as showrunner Gwen Sigan revealed during the chat how “messy” the dynamics would become – only two weeks in advance. Voight was still reeling from Anna’s death after the disastrous season 9 finale, and his inability to accept it was affecting the entire unit…especially Halstead and Upton. The two married detectives weren’t exactly fighting in “Let In Bleed,” but they weren’t at their best either. The showrunner spoke with CinemaBlend about their dynamic and the ongoing conflict with Voight.

The dynamic between these three characters changed and evolved in season 9 after Roy Walton’s death and Halstead’s steps to stop the FBI investigation before it brought down Upton and Voight. Halstead and Voight are more on an equal footing starting in season 10, but Upton questioned Voight’s judgment to the point of going rogue when Torres (played by returning guest star and new series regular Benjamin Levy Aguilar) was in danger.

They had a meeting where Voight said they couldn’t go on like this if they all wanted to keep working together. After leaving Upton and Halstead alone together, Halstead asked his wife if they were “good”. She was quick to tell her husband “of course,” then asked him the same question. He had the same answer for her. Upstead seemed to reaffirm that they’re still a team, but the episode didn’t exactly end with them heading into the sunset together. So what’s up with Upstead?

I asked Gwen Sigan how their relationship was holding up at the end of the Season 10 premiere, and the showrunner shared:

They wish they were okay, and you see them saying that in this episode. ‘Of course we are fine. Sure.’ And I think that’s what they want so much, because they love each other so much. But sometimes, if you don’t look directly at something, it can get bigger. He can continue to be there. So where we’ll see the fallout is those dynamics in your relationship where they want so badly to be good and they want so badly to be what the other person needs, because they love each other. But it’s not as easy as that.

Unfortunately, what’s happening with Upstead in this case isn’t that they’re the picture of domestic bliss bleeding into the job. On the plus side, the showrunner has pointed out (more than once) that Upton and Halstead really do love each other, and Tracy Spiridakos and Jesse Lee Soffer’s performances in their final premiere scene suggest the characters are still thoroughly. (Spiridakos had a sweet message for husband on screen a few weeks before the premiere.)

Soffer’s upcoming departure as Halstead poses major questions about their dynamic, however, as big changes are inevitable in season 10 because of that. Season 10’s “savior” theme and its connection to characters who consider themselves broken (like explained by Gwen Sigan and two DB stars) also raises questions about how the spinoff will play out for Voight as well as Upstead. The showrunner wondered if the three would be able to work together functionally moving forward after all:

It’s gonna be messy. Though I think they’d all like to put him to bed and put him behind them, [there’s] the Anna spinoffs and also just the spinoffs of [how] a relationship between Voight and Halstead has changed for some time. I mean, really, since I would say episode eight of last season, maybe even four of last season, when Halstead hit it. Their relationship really went through a lot in the last season and they got really close.

Many fans can probably remember very well when Halstead finally broke Voight and punched him in the face last season after dropping some comments on Upton, so a lot has changed so that they are now “very close”. They’ve always had a distinct dynamic within intelligence, and not too long ago Voight told Halstead that the unit would be his one day. So how does this new relationship affect them? Sigan continued:

They’ve become kind of this unit that works together, these two people where Halstead is able to pull Voight back and Voight is able to really push Halstead and make Halstead in some ways even a better cop, and in other respects, not so much. It continues. He can’t be put to bed as easily as they are having a conversation. We are going to see it. We will see them try and we will see what happens.

This dynamic between Halstead and Voight will obviously continue through the remaining episodes of Soffer. As no one from One Chicago or Wolf Entertainment has confirmed how Soffer will be written, we can only speculate at this time how Voight and Upton will be affected when Halstead is no longer around on a day-to-day basis.

Tune in to NBC Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET to see what’s next Chicago PDfollowing the new episodes of chicago fire (which included Upton in its Season 11 premiere) at 9 p.m. and Chicago Mediterranean (which has some challenges for Will and Hannah) at 8 p.m. For more viewing options in the not-too-distant future, be sure to check out our 2022 TV premiere schedule.