LaRoyce Hawkins And 5 Stars Who Left 'Chicago P.D.' (& 2 Who Returned)
When a show airs as long as Dick Wolf's One Chicago universe, comprised of Chicago Fire (2012), Chicago P.D. (2014), Chicago Med (2015), and, on rare occasions, crossovers with Law and Order: SVU (1999), cast members leaving is inevitable. While job security is, imaginably, a great thing to have, it's also easy to understand why actors would want to embark on other projects or sign on to something different for various reasons. Ultimately, you walk into these shows with the expectation that your favorite character might not be around forever and that their exit is easier to cope with when you realize it's unavoidable.
With P.D. and Fire on air for over a decade now, we've lost a few cast members, and we'll likely lose more because that's the game. However, because not every character dies, there's often the chance of cameos, which we've gotten occasionally with two returns, and more are possible in the future.
LaRoyce Hawkins as Kevin Atwater
It was recently announced that LaRoyce Hawkins, now one of the only original cast members left in Chicago P.D., would be leaving the show for its fourteenth season in the fall. According to Deadline, he'll return for a few episodes to wrap up his arc as Kevin Atwater, then he'll be exiting as a series regular.
The news is unfortunate considering he's one of the original members of the show, but hopefully the series won't kill him off, and we could get the chance of cameos in the future. More than anything, for the sake of the character and his fans, the best we can hope for is that they write off the character in an arc that feels right for him and everything he's been through.
Jesse Lee Soffer as Jay Halstead
Jesse Lee Soffer's exit was one of the most abrupt to take place in the series, and before his brief return in Season 13, his actions as Jay Halstead back in Season 10 were completely out of character. He'd left his wife, Tracy Spiridakos' Hailey Upton, in the dark with his absence, leaving a bitter taste in her mouth as well as with the fans.
However, things seemed to be looking up for Halstead when Soffer returned right alongside Spiridakos to help Jason Beghe's Voight solve a crime that needed the FBI's involvement. It seemed as though the two of them could patch things up, making their brief exit and subsequent return work to at least tell better stories for their characters than what we'd been left with before.
Tracy Spiridakos as Hailey Upton
Shortly after Soffer's exit, it was announced that Tracy Spiridakos would also be leaving the show in Season 11, and this time it was because Hailey would be moving on to a different career path. Unlike Soffer's exit, though losing Spiridakos was unfortunate, it felt right for her character to have a better chance elsewhere.
Spiridakos returned right alongside Soffer in the latest crossover, giving both characters not only a fresh start but also an episode that proved just how valuable a great partnership could be. Seeing her work for the FBI means that she's likely getting better opportunities to shine there, and though we don't get to see her do it on our screens, that showcases that she made a decision right for her, which is a solid bit of hope for us to hold onto.
Elias Koteas as Alvin Olinsky
Sadly, unlike Soffer, Spiridakos (and hopefully not Hawkins), Elias Koteas' exit from Chicago P.D. in Season 5 was permanent. For a show that didn't have any major character deaths in its five seasons at the time, it's believed that his death was to ultimately exhibit the dangers of the job, and therefore, Alvin Olinsky was killed off.
His death understandably impacted a number of fans, but it also served as a tremendous loss to Voight, who valued him and their time spent together greatly. The loss was a creative decision to service the storyline, and while it was upsetting at the time, it's one of the few times where it's easy to see why writers came to the decision that they needed.
Sophia Bush as Erin Lindsay
Sophia Bush was one of the first original cast members who likely brought a lot of new fans to the procedural genre, and her exit in Season 4 was both abrupt and unsettling. While it was understandable why she'd move on to bigger and better, the fact that her character was pulled through the wringer in her last season is still something that doesn't sit well with me.
Erin Lindsay went on to join the FBI, and though we didn't see Bush return to the universe in any capacity, the detail that she's still in this field feels right for the character who's been fighting through everything for justice. Fans were initially upset because she was one half of a great ship, but we later recognized that she and Halstead wouldn't have been good together in the long run.
Jon Seda as Antonio Dawson
Jon Seda was also one of the original Chicago P.D. cast members who left the show too early, and it never quite felt right. However, he also wasn't getting any substantial arcs, so that made sense to a degree. At the same time, he was in Chicago Justice (2017), which unfortunately didn't get as much traction as the original three shows and was canceled.
While it seemed like the show never knew what to do with Antonio, having the character addicted to drugs was always one of the most unfortunate storylines that never felt right for the path he'd been on prior. It was also unfair that he was written off with a few words from Voight about how he'd left the PD and moved to Puerto Rico, but we never got to see any of his recovery ourselves.
