Chicago P.D. Stars Marina Squerciati and Jason Beghe on Jesse Lee Soffer’s Upcoming Exit [Video]

Probably the biggest news about the One Chicago universe we learned ahead of the new season is that Jesse Lee Soffer, who plays Jay Halstead, will be exiting Chicago P.D. 

Other than that fact, details are pretty scarce right now. We did, however, get a chance to hear from Marina Squerciati and Jason Beghe about how Jay Halstead’s exit might affect the team when the actors spoke with reporters about Chicago P.D. Season 10 this week. (Watch the video below.)

“We’re not really talking about when he’s leaving, but we could talk about Jesse’s… when he’s leaving — how it will feel. And it does not feel good,” Squerciati began. “As actors, we’ve all really become close, and as a team. I think that shows on camera, how well that Intelligence works. And it will be really hard.”

“But we have a new character, and he can’t fill Jesse’s shoes, but there will be new shoes,” she added.

“It’s a family,” Beghe said. “It’s gonna be tough. But we will move on, and as Marina said, we’ve got Benjamin Levy Aguilar coming in to play Dante Torres, and he’s just a gifted actor and human being extraordinaire. And it won’t be Jesse, but it will be Benjamin. And these are things you don’t even wanna try to compare. They’re both perfect.”

Watch the interview with Marina Squerciati and Jason Beghe:

Beghe also shared some of his most memorable moments working with Soffer.

“I have seminal moments both as an actor and as a character. There was a fantastic episode, I thought, early on maybe Season 1 or 2, called ‘The Docks,’ where Voight was gonna murder this guy, and Olinsky was gonna help me. He was a little bit iffy. And Halstead shows up and put the kibosh on it. That scene which was followed by another scene in a bar where I said, ‘I totally get what you did, you be you and I’ll be me,'” Beghe said.

“Then last season, I feel like Halstead really found his voice as a character and there was a scene where he really stood up to Voight. And it was the beginning of a kind of an equality in the relationship,” Beghe continued. “Voight’s so, kind of Alpha, that he tends to overpower. He doesn’t want to, but he just happens to. That conflict actually was a wonderful moment for the two characters.”

“I have a very close relationship with Jesse personally and professionally. And you know, art imitates life and life imitates art in this kind of a situation,” Beghe said. “I feel like those scenes affected our personal relationships and our personal relationships affected those scenes, and it’s a deeply intimate adventure. I truly adore that man, and there’s nothing that will ever change that.”

“He’s an amazing person and friend to everyone in the cast and crew and really beloved,” Squerciati said.

“And smart. He’s so smart,” Beghe added. “He makes the show better. He’s a wonderful actor and it’s an interesting character and all that, and we all add that stuff, but he’s just a passionate artist [who] cares about the whole communication that we’re all making.”

—

Chicago P.D. returns Wednesday, September 21st at 10/9c on NBC.

 Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram!

Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!

Hanako Greensmith, Alberto Rosende, and Daniel Kyri Talk ‘Chicago Fire’ Season 11, What’s Next for Violet and Hawkins [Video]