In the Season 8 finale, when Burgess was kidnapped, Voight had the team split up to search for her—and he reverted to the old Voight. When he found Roy, who could give him a lead, he cuffed him and beat him. Upton discovered Voight and convinced him to do the right thing. When the suspect was freed, he attacked Voight, forcing Upton to shoot him. Because of the bruises from the beating, which would reveal that police procedure hadn’t been followed, Voight sent Upton home and he buried the body. Now, the two have to deal with the aftermath of their decision. While Voight is keeping his cool and making all the right moves—and hoping for a positive outcome—Upton is losing it just a little bit. “There’s definite tension in how Hailey is handling it, the weight of it, and it does affect the dynamic,” Spiridakos tells Parade.com in this exclusive interview. But Beghe begs to differ, “Me, I would say it brings them closer together. That’s a very disturbing, but intimate moment that we shared. And so, the impulse would be to separate which would create tension. But it actually brings us closer together, and we’re trying to be further apart. That’s how I look at it, but I tend to think that all relationships can only get closer; they may seem like they’re not, but [they are]." Upton’s other reaction to the shooting was to try to reclaim some normalcy in her life and she did that by turning to Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer) and proposing, even after she had turned him down not that long ago. “She realizes that he is this incredibly good thing in her life, and she doesn’t want to lose it,” Upton said. “I think she means the proposal. I think she definitely loves and cares about him, and it comes out of just this totally vulnerable place, and she goes for it. I think there’s like some fear of losing him in that.” But if they do get married, they may no longer be able to be partners. In fact, one of them might have to transfer to another division, but Beghe says Voight would want to keep both of them. “Voight now is resigned to the romance. His only concern, really, is that it could affect their policing,” he said. “But they seem to be very professional about it." Of course, Voight isn’t the final word on married partners. Miller could put her two cents in and insist that they be separated. So, what would Upton do? Is her career more important than marriage? “I think her love for him is quite deep, and so I don’t know,” Spiridakos said. “I think that would be interesting. That would be a whole episode. I think the decision is: Is it the job or is it love? I don’t know what she would ultimately go for. That’s a great question.” Beghe suggests, “I think she would go for love. She could be a cop in another unit. She’d probably end up shooting up through the ranks and end up being Voight’s commander or something.” And when Spiridakos thinks about it for a minute she agrees, “I think she would too, honestly.” Following is more of the conversation with the two Chicago P.D. stars:
Last season was about police reform, and it seemed as if everybody was onboard. But in the finale, there was some slippage. Did Voight really buy into the reform, or was he just making a surface appearance of complying?
Jason Beghe: He buys into it because it’s a reality and he deals in reality and truth. Whether he thinks it’s effective or not, it’s something that he has to adjust to. His primary concern is doing the best police work he can. And there are rules to the game, and at times there are new rules—like this reform. So, there’s a learning curve, for sure. And clearly, by the end of the season, it’s kind of like an alcoholic falling off the wagon. I think to some degree, I can put it this way, that first drink was satisfying in some ways for him. But I don’t think that he’s going to sneak around looking for people to knock around; he’s going to try and play by the rules.
Upton wasn’t exactly by the book before this. She was a little bit rogue. Why is shooting Roy affecting her to such an extent, do you think?
Tracy Spiridakos: I saw a shift in her in the way that she was going rogue. When she first joined the unit, she was quite by the book, and then she started to do things her own way. And then in that final episode, I felt that she was wanting to do things the right way and wanting to go and not make up her own path and rules. I think given the circumstances, that was all wrong. That’s now how it should have been handled, and she knows that. And the guilt of that, knowing that she did something wrong, I think that guilt really, really weighs on her.
Jason, Voight’s having lost his own son can relate to Deputy Miller’s need for justice. How is he going to help her? Or is he upset with her because she wouldn’t let him do what he could have to save her son?
Jason Beghe: I think he was very upset in the moment, but only because of his care for her and justice. I think one of the things that’s interesting about Voight is that he kind of is in the moment, and moments tend to fleet away. So, in the moment when she said no and pulled rank on Voight and said, “You can’t do this because it’s not by the book,” which was to go and try and save her son, he was incredibly frustrated and disagreed strongly, and voiced that. But then, he deals in reality, and he takes each moment as it comes, which is part of what gives him his power. He’s not afflicted with anxiety about the future or much regret about the past, which is also a character that could be psychopathic. It’s a fine line, again, the characteristic, anyway, but there’s a lot of power for him in being able to just stay in this moment. And I think that that’s kind of how he generally leads his life.
Burgess is in the hospital, and we don’t know if she’s going to make it. How big of an impact does that have on the team?
Jason Beghe: It’s like losing your arm. This is truly a team. When Voight created this unit, he didn’t want seven Voights. He needs a head, a left arm, a right arm, a torso, and a heart and liver. Everybody’s got a role to play. To lose your arm or your soul or your heart, whatever you want to call Burgess, is incalculable. It’s a big deal. Chicago PD returns for its 9th season tonight at 10 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. Next,here’s our prescription for everything you need to know before checking into Chicago Med Season 7
