Jesse Lee Soffer’s character in FBI: Internationalis who Jay Halstead would have become if he’d stayed in Chicago PD.Halstead was a central character in the https://screenrant.com/chicago-pd-cast-character-guide/Chicago PD cast for the first 10 seasons. He was an idealistic young cop who often clashed with Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) over Voight’s willingness to break the law to serve the cause of justice. However, when Soffer decided to leave after season 10, Halstead was written out and did not return to the series. Halstead’s disappointing exit was explained partially by his fear of some changes in his personality over the years.
Several years later, Soffer joined the FBI: International season 4 cast as Wes Mitchell, the new leader of the Fly Team. Although Mitchell was a former cop turned FBI agent, the series made it clear that he was not Halstead. While Halstead was often shown as level-headed, Mitchell was hotheaded and impulsive, often causing trouble for the team because of his aggressive behavior toward those he perceived as obstacles to solving cases.
Voight saw potential in Halstead and had hoped that he would someday take over leadership in the Intelligence Unit. He thus became somewhat of a mentor to Halstead, often giving him advice about tough cases as well as about how to become the leader that he thought Halstead was capable of becoming. Voight told Halstead that he saw him as a future leader and that he should “do it right,” but it wasn’t clear what that meant, and Halstead began crossing ethical lines during season 8.
By the time Halstead left, he had made several questionable decisions that Voight had encouraged or approved of. Thus, his decision to go to Bolivia, though seemingly abrupt, also stemmed from his fear that if he continued to work for Voight, his character would spiral further downward into behavior that he was uncomfortable with, including criminal behavior, and Halstead resigned from the Intelligence Unit to make sure he prevented this negative fate for himself.
Wes Mitchell’s association with the Fly Team in FBI: International was originally intended to be temporary. He came to Budapest after his partner in Los Angeles was killed and he traced the assassin to Hungary. Throughout the case, Mitchell showed a disturbing tendency toward hotheaded and impulsive behavior, which made it harder for the Fly Team to close the case, and his former mentee, Cameron Vo (Vinessa Vidotto), warned him that these techniques wouldn’t work in Europe. Thus, from the beginning, Mitchell had both mentoring and hotheadedness in common with Voight, and that never changed.
In the FBI: International series finale, Mitchell also demonstrated he was like Voight in another way.
He tricked a suspect into a confession by promising to give him a suicide pill if he cooperated, then gave him the outer trappings while removing the pill so that the man couldn’t die before being held accountable. Voight would have undoubtedly approved of this strategy, though he likely would have gone further than Mitchell did to get him to talk. However, he tempered it somewhat in order to be more successful at his new job.
Halstead’s exit from Chicago PD was disappointing because it was not well prepared for and seemed out of character. After he left for Bolivia, the series continued to write an out-of-character arc for him in which he essentially abandoned his marriage to travel around the world helping strangers. Upton then divorced him, ending their relationship story, and left herself a year later. This sequence of events resulted in Halstead being erased from the canvas, as no one mentions him anymore.
Additionally, Voight needs a highly moral cop to balance him out, as most of his team either has their own questionable behavior in their past or supports his morally gray methods of seeking justice.
Halstead deserves a proper ending in Chicago PD. Thus, Halstead should return with a clearer head and the determination to be true to himself and his ethical values, which would make him an effective foil for Voight during Chicago PD season 13.
