Chicago P.D. viewers are in for a comeback — sort of. Having been on the air for ten years, the three One Chicago shows, Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., and Chicago Med, have gone through its fair share of changes, and for a period in 2023, Chicago Fire even made due without one of its lead stars, Taylor Kinney, who took a leave of absence to deal with a personal matter, and made his return after over a year away in January 2024. Among one of its most heartbreaking departures was that of Jesse Lee Soffer’s from Chicago P.D. in 2023, who played Jay Halstead for almost ten years.
Now, though fans aren’t exactly going to see Jesse as Jay back on the screen anytime soon, he is back on set, as a director. Over the weekend, the FBI: International actor took to Instagram and shared a round of behind-the-scenes photos from his time directing a new episode for the forthcoming 13th season of the show.
“I was honored to get to spend some time directing with my PD fam. More pics to come later don’t wanna give away too much of the episode!” he wrote in his caption, adding: “Very grateful,” with a red heart emoji. Fans were then quick to take to the comments section under the post and rave over it, with one writing: “Can’t wait to see the episode! Very cool!”
© GettyOthers followed suit with: “I miss Jay Halstead so much. He was my favorite!” and: “Can’t wait to see your name again, ‘Directed by…’ I’m sure you did a great job as always!!” as well as: “Thanks for sharing these photos, Jesse. I’m so happy for you to have these opportunities. I can’t wait to see the episode,” plus another also wrote: “Congratulations! Can’t wait to see this episode. Thank you for sharing these behind the scenes sneak peeks. Hoping you can come back and direct many more episodes.”
This is the third Chicago P.D. episode Jesse has directed; he previously helmed “Deadlocked” in season ten, his directorial debut, and “Inventory” the following season. At the time, he told NBC Insider of the quick turnaround: “I didn’t get the script until a day or two before we started prepping the episode,” adding: “It’s a crap shoot. You never know what script you’re gonna get or what it’s gonna be about until you do.”
© InstagramStill, his co-star LaRoyce Hawkins, who is featured in Jesse’s on-set photo dump, gushed about him to Entertainment Tonight at the time. “To have him on the sidelines coaching me up, that’s a dynamic we’ve always had,” he said. “He gave me something in this episode that I think I’m going to keep with me for the rest of my career, and that’s how you know you’re a good director.”
Revealing the pivotal lesson, he further shared: “There was a moment in the episode where it almost seems like, yeah, we’re about to do this scene, but to be honest, this may be a scene that might be cut. Then he told me something interesting. He was like, ‘It might get cut, but make them need it.’… Now that’s my approach for scenes that seem frivolous.”
© GettyChicago P.D. returns to NBC with its 13th season on October 1, as will Chicago Fire with its 14th season and Chicago Med with its 11th.
