Chicago P.D. had more than one cliffhanger to resolve with the ninth premiere, and although the episode did settle some of the biggest questions left over from Season 8, the ride for Season 9 has only just begun. Burgess survived her brutal injuries, Upton and Halstead are engaged, and Upton and Voight are keeping their deadly secret... for now. So, what's next? Chicago P.D. stars Jesse Lee Soffer and Jason Beghe shared their takes on what they're most excited about in Season 9, and there's some good news for fans hoping to learn more about Halstead.
I had the chance to speak with the Chicago P.D. stars for Season 9, and they gave intriguing but very different responses regarding what they're looking forward to fans getting to see. Here's what they had to say!
Jesse Lee Soffer (Jay Halstead)
Jesse Lee Soffer had a lot to preview about Season 9, not the least of which concerns how Halstead is going to handle Upton's big secret and what it will mean for various relationships on the series. When asked what he's particularly excited for fans to get to see in the ninth season, Soffer revealed that there's plenty worth looking forward to on the way even beyond what's up with Upstead, saying:
Definitely excited for the fans to see the fallout of the end of Season 8 and how that's going to affect all of the relationships in the unit. It's going to be really interesting. I'm excited that Atwater, there's a new character introduced, he might have a love interest. There's a really fun episode where we get to see a little bit more of specificity in Jay's past. We get some of his military background and someone from his time in Afghanistan is a part of an episode, and so we get a clear – a clearer picture, I should say – of why he doesn't talk about his time overseas. So there's a lot to look forward to.
Based on some of Jesse Lee Soffer's other comments, Halstead probably won't be getting a promotion any time soon, but more Halstead backstory is always welcome since the character tends to be pretty tight-lipped on what happened to him overseas. The shortened eighth season delivered a lot of intriguing plots, but there wasn't time to do much with Halstead's history. While it's not always pretty when Halstead has to face his past on P.D., those stories reveal a lot about what makes the character tick.
Plus, Atwater getting a love interest? That possibility has been exciting for years now, with even LaRoyce Hawkins weighing in on Atwater never getting any love last season. He deserves some romance, and it should be interesting to see what kind of character is on the way to fill that roll. After Rojas was written out before anything could happen between them, it's possible that Atwater will branch out and date somebody who isn't a cop, which may be for the best now that P.D. has served up an Upstead engagement and Burgess/Ruzek have formed a little family unit with Makayla.
Plus, Jesse Lee Soffer specifically mentioning "a new character" who might be an Atwater love interest is hopefully a sign that this won't be somebody turning up for a one-off appearance. So, what is Jason Beghe excited for fans to see in Season 9?
Jason Beghe (Hank Voight)
I spoke with both Jason Beghe and Tracy Spiridakos together to get their thoughts on Voight and Upton's big secret as well as Halstead's role, and Beghe shared his thoughts on what he's excited for fans to get to see in the ninth season. The premiere certainly set the stage for whatever comes next, even beyond the aftermath of the Season 8 finale. Beghe said:
I know you probably asked that question, and you're looking for 'Oh, the wedding is going to be amazing,' or something like that. But I tend to think differently. And I just, what I said last time, when somebody asked something similar, was that there's been nine seasons, or eight now, and there's a lot of stuff that's happened. You've just been asking Upton about this, you know, extremely difficult stuff she has to deal with as well as personal changes, getting married. Burgess has been shot. LaRoyce [Hawkins] has been through the mill. Voight's got his issues. We all have. And I find, for me, what I find interesting is that I think we're going to maybe start focusing a little bit more on how all this stuff affects you.
Unlike Jesse Lee Soffer, Jason Beghe previewed how P.D. will approach how everything that has happened so far will affect the characters, as opposed to specific upcoming plots like some more Halstead backstory and Atwater getting a little love. With Beghe portraying Voight for nearly a full decade now thanks to making his debut in the role in early Chicago Fire, he certainly has a unique perspective on the P.D. cast. He continued:
You know, it's like, somebody might have a nervous tic, right? But my philosophy is that it doesn't come from nowhere. It's a coping [mechanism], it's something. You know, 'I don't want to look at that.' I don't know what it is for that. A better example is, you got a guy walks with a funny gait, and it's because he's got a bad hip. So that also applies to your psychology. So what are going to be the ways that we limp forward, I think, to me is interesting. And I look forward to playing and discovering and creating.
After everything that Intelligence went through at the end of Season 8 and beginning of Season 9 so far, I'd say they've definitely earned the right to do some limping! In fact, depending on whether or not P.D. delivers a time jump, Burgess may be quite literally limping due to her injuries. She was still in rough shape at the end of the Season 9 premiere. They've all been through the emotional wringer as well, and Upton feeling the stress of the big secret so much that she was having a panic attack between buildings in the premiere presumably isn't going away just because Halstead proposed.
See what happens next with what the stars were hyping with new episodes of Chicago P.D. closing out One Chicago Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC, following Chicago Fire at 9 p.m. ET and Chicago Med at 8 p.m. ET. The new seasons of One Chicago action is just beginning, so be sure not to miss an episode!
