Not having Halstead in the Chicago PD Season 11 finale was the right thing to do

Chicago PD had many options open to them when it came to writing out Upton. One of those was to bring Halstead in as a way to right a few wrongs for the couple with Halstead’s exit just a season earlier.

Well, the show opted not to bring Halstead back. While some fans may have been disappointed, the decision was the right one. It all came down to what and who the exit was actually about.

More often than not, character exits can be overshadowed due to other characters. Bringing in another character to service the exit of another can overshadow that character’s exit. In cases of Will Halstead in Chicago Med, it told us the future we could envision for Will after leaving Chicago. But that wouldn’t work for Upton, who was stepping out for something more.

The Chicago PD Season 11 finale became all about Upton

An exit should be about the character that is leaving and the motivation for that character. That’s exactly what the finale became for Upton without Halstead around.

If Halstead returned, there would have been a lot of questions about where he’d been and why he ghosted Upton’s calls. The focus needed to remain on Upton moving forward. For the entire season, Upton had dealt with her marriage to Halstead coming to an end and the reminders of her past. She dealt with believing in herself; more specifically, believing that she deserved more.

She would have taken a back step in her healing and growth if Halstead turned up. It was better for her and her exit that Halstead stayed far away.

This is something Chicago PD showrunner Gwen Sigan explained to TVLine when it came to Halstead not being in the finale.

"I just wanted this to be her, and I wanted it to be a choice that she is making and that it’s such an internal thing and it’s such a piece of what she needs, and it’s not really related to really anybody else."

Voight was the perfect person to push Upton on her new journey

The finale was also about Voight. His and Upton’s relationship was very much a father-daughter one. Voight had to deal with the fear of being a bad influence on Upton, leading her down a darker path than she should have been on.

In the end, the two needed each other but they also needed to step away from each other. Voight needed to get Upton to push herself to gain more in her life. She deserved it.

There was only Voight who could do something like that. It wouldn’t have meant the same coming from Halstead.

It was the right choice to keep Halstead out of the finale storyline. It was all about Upton and her own belief in herself.