Jesse Lee Soffer has not been on Chicago P.D. as a series regular for close to four years now. The actor was one of the original cast members in the NBC procedural, but he left the show in 2022 after playing Jay Halstead for ten seasons. Halstead left Chicago at the beginning of Season 10, but the actor has been back on set several times, mostly as a director. Still, viewers have always missed Halstead and have wished for his return. His latest on-screen appearance was in the 2026 One Chicago crossover that also brought back his ex-wife, Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos).
After his exit from P.D., Lee Soffer joined the CBS procedural, FBI: International, playing Supervisory Agent Wesley Mitchell. The actor played the character for one season before the show was canceled. The cancellation opened the door for him to return to Chicago P.D., but during the crossover, it was revealed that he was still working in the Army and was okay leaving everything in the past. A recent casting development dashes the hopes of Halstead returning to Chicago P.D. even more.
Deadline recently reported that Jesse Lee Soffer has been cast in the lead role in CBS’ new series Strike Force, which is now in development. He’s played a CPD cop, an FBI agent, and now Lee Soffer is tackling a DEA agent. The show reunites him with Chicago P.D. co-creator and FBI: International showrunner Matt Olmstead, who is writing and executive producing the new series. Strike Force follows Lee Soffer’s character, who returns home to Kansas City to “lead a multi-agency strike force targeting the violent criminals now trying to exploit America’s heartland.” The actor also serves as an executive producer alongside Jerry Bruckheimer and KristieAnne Reed. The series is still in the early stages, with the network opening a development room before committing to a full series order.
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Collider Exclusive · Taylor Sheridan Universe Quiz Which Taylor Sheridan Show Do You Belong In? Yellowstone · Landman · Tulsa King · Mayor of Kingstown
Four worlds. All of them brutal, complicated, and built on power, loyalty, and the price of survival. Taylor Sheridan doesn’t write heroes — he writes people who do what they have to do and live with the cost. Ten questions will reveal which one of his worlds you were made for.
🤠Yellowstone
🛢️Landman
👑Tulsa King
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⚖️Mayor of Kingstown
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01
Where does your power come from? In Sheridan’s world, everyone has leverage. The question is what kind.
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02
Who do you put first, no matter what? Loyalty in Sheridan’s universe is always absolute — and always costly.
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03
Someone crosses a line. How do you respond? Every Sheridan protagonist has a line. What matters is what happens after it’s crossed.
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04
Where do you feel most in your element? Sheridan’s worlds are as much about place as they are about people.
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05
How do you feel about operating in the grey? Nobody in a Sheridan show has clean hands. The question is how they carry the dirt.
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06
What are you actually fighting to hold onto? Every Sheridan character is fighting a war. The real question is what they’re defending.
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07
How do you lead? Authority in Sheridan’s world is never given — it’s established, maintained, and constantly tested.
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08
Someone new arrives and tries to change how things work. Your reaction? Every Sheridan show has an outsider disrupting an established order. Sometimes that outsider is you.
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09
What has your position cost you? Nobody gets to where these characters are without paying for it. The bill is always personal.
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10
When it’s over, what do you want people to say? Sheridan’s characters all know the ending is coming. The question is what they leave behind.
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Sheridan Has Spoken You Belong In…
The show that claimed the most of your answers is the world you were built for. If two tied, both are shown — you’re complicated enough to straddle two Sheridan universes.
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🤠 Yellowstone
🛢️ Landman
👑 Tulsa King
⚖️ Mayor of Kingstown
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You are a Dutton — or you might as well be. You understand that some things are worth protecting at any cost, and that the modern world’s indifference to history, to land, to legacy, is not something you’re willing to accept quietly. You lead from the front, you carry your family’s weight without complaint, and when someone threatens what’s yours, you don’t escalate — you finish it. You’re not cruel. But you are absolute. In Yellowstone’s world, that combination of ferocity and loyalty doesn’t make you a villain. It makes you the only thing standing between everything that matters and everyone who wants to take it.
You thrive in the chaos of high-stakes negotiation, where the money is enormous, the margins are thin, and the wrong word in the wrong room can cost everyone everything. You’re a fixer — the person called when a situation is already on fire and needs someone with the nerve to walk into it. West Texas oil country rewards exactly what you are: sharp, adaptable, unsentimental, and absolutely clear-eyed about what people want and what they’ll do to get it. You’re not naive enough to think this world is fair. You’re smart enough to be the one deciding who it’s fair to.
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You are a Dwight Manfredi — someone who has served their time, paid their dues, and arrived somewhere unexpected with nothing but their reputation and their wits. You adapt without losing yourself. You build loyalty through respect rather than fear, though you’re not above reminding people that the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Tulsa King is for people who are still standing when everyone assumed they’d be finished — who find, in an unfamiliar place, that they’re more capable than the world gave them credit for. You don’t need a throne. You build one, wherever you happen to land.
You carry the weight of a system that is broken by design, and you do it anyway — because someone has to, and because you’re the only one positioned to do it without the whole thing collapsing. Mike McLusky’s world is for people who are comfortable operating where there are no good options, only less catastrophic ones. You speak every language: law enforcement, criminal, political, human. That fluency makes you invaluable and it makes you a target. You’ve made your peace with both. Mayor of Kingstown belongs to people who understand that keeping the peace is not the same as being at peace — and who do the job regardless.
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What’s Going On with ‘Chicago P.D.’?
Chicago P.D. is still ongoing, with the fifteenth season set to premiere this fall. Since Lee Soffer’s departure, the Intelligence Unit has undergone significant changes, with some cast members departing and others joining between seasons. With another longtime cast member, LaRoyce Hawkins, leaving in the upcoming season, the unit now comprises Hank Voight (Jason Beghe), Adam Ruzek (Patrick John Flueger), Kim Burgess (Marina Squerciati), Eva Imani (Arienne Mandi), Dante Torres (Benjamin Levy Aguilar), and Trudy Platt (Amy Morton).
Stream Chicago P.D. on Peacock in the US and stay tuned to Collider for more updates about Strike Force.
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Release Date
January 8, 2014
Showrunner
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Derek Haas
Directors
Nick Gomez, Eriq La Salle, Carl Seaton, Fred Berner, Vincent Misiano, Bethany Rooney, Rohn Schmidt, Sanford Bookstaver, John Hyams, Nicole Rubio, Terry Miller, Takashi Doscher, Brenna Malloy, Lisa Robinson, Marc Roskin, Charles S. Carroll, David Rodriguez, Holly Dale, John Polson, Lin Oeding, Mykelti Williamson, Paul McCrane, Alik Sakharov, Charlotte Brändström
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Writers
Craig Gore, Tim Walsh, Timothy J. Sexton, Mike Weiss, Mo Masi, Tiller Russell, Eduardo Javier Canto, Jamie Pachino, Mike Batistick, Cole Maliska, John Dove, Tiffany Bratcher, David Hoselton, Maisha Closson, Kim Rome, Katherine Visconti, Daniel Arkin, Todd Robinson, David Rambo, Denitria Harris-Lawrence, Mick Betancourt, Bryan Gracia
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