Chicago PD star Tracy Spiridakos explains why she is leaving the long-running series after seven seasons
Tracy Spiridakos opened up about her decision to leave the Chicago Police Department after seven seasons.
Tracy – whose co-star Emmon Walker is returning to the series – made the decision last year after season 10 wrapped, telling producers she wanted her character’s storyline to play out.
βI decided at the end of my sixth season, after I reached out to Gwen and everyone at Wolf to let them know that I wanted to continue for another year,β she said.
βI wanted us to send the character with one last season,β Spiridakos shared Variety, adding: ‘It was a difficult decision β very, very difficult. I love everyone on the show: cast, crew, producers, writers, everyone. They’re such a great team.’
Tracy explained that she was curious about βwhat was available to me and she wanted to change it, and that was it.β
Tracy Spiridakos opened up about her decision to leave the Chicago Police Department after seven seasons
She made the decision last year after season 10 wrapped, telling producers she wanted her character’s storyline to play out. Seen with Eamonn Walker as Battalion Chief Wallace Boden
Spiridakos has played Detective Hailey Upton since the fourth season of the One Chicago show.
The season 11 finale will be her 140th episode and she told the outlet that there are two qualities of her character that she hopes to take with her.
βOne of my favorite things about her is that her vulnerability is her strength. For me, I’m not very good at vulnerability. As an individual, I usually make awkward jokes,β she said.
βSo that’s something I really like about her β that and how she is so much herself. She doesn’t care if you love her or not.
“Those are the two qualities that I hope have come across to me a little bit, especially the vulnerability.”
Her final episode will be a dramatic one with the frantic search for her partner Hank Voight (Jason Beghe).
Voight was kidnapped by serial killer Frank Matson (Dennis Flanagan).
Hailey will do anything to find him as he is her closest confidante.
βI decided at the end of my sixth season, when I contacted Gwen and everyone at Wolf to let them know that I wanted to do another year. I wanted us to send the character with one last season,β Spiridakos told Variety
It was a difficult decision β very, very difficult. I love everyone on the show: cast, crew, producers, writers, everyone. They are such an incredible team.β
Tracy explained that she was curious about “what was available to me and she wanted to change it, and that was it.”
Spiridakos has played Detective Hailey Upton since the fourth season of the One Chicago show
The season 11 finale will be her 140th episode on the show and she told the outlet that there are two qualities of her character that she hopes to take with her; seen on the right with Bojana Novakovic while Josephine Petrovic went left
“She goes through the emotion of being so afraid of losing him and then focuses on the work of doing everything she can to outsmart Matson as best she can,” she teased.
The “intense” finale is extremely fast-paced and frantic, Tracy told the outlet.
βThe whole team is doing everything they can,β she said, adding, βI don’t think anyone sits still for the entire episode…
‘There are a lot of really vulnerable moments. We see these characters, who we haven’t necessarily seen as vulnerable, you see a lot of that coming through as well.’