Jesse Lee Soffer is going from Chicago to Budapest. After departing from Chicago P.D. early on in its 10th season, TVLine reports that the actor has landed a series regular role on FBI spinoff FBI: International. Despite the two Dick Wolf shows being set in the same universe, as Soffer’s former co-star Tracy Spiridakos appeared on FBI as her P.D. character Hailey Upton, Soffer will not be reprising his role as Detective Jay Halstead. Instead, he is going to play a completely new character. This is meant to fill the void left by Luke Kleintank, who departed as Scott Forrester ahead of International‘s Season 3 finale.
While fans of Chicago P.D. hoped that Soffer would return on-screen, especially to send off Spiridakos at the end of Season 11, that never happened. Now that he’s going abroad, that might be a little harder to do. Soffer has directed a couple of episodes of P.D. since his departure, however. His addition to FBI: International will be exciting to watch, and even though he’s not playing Jay Halstead, it will still be interesting to see what this new character brings to the Fly Team.
CHICAGO P.D. — “Closure” Episode 901 — Pictured: Jesse Lee Soffer as Jay Halstead — (Photo by: Lori Allen/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)
– Lori Allen/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)
Soffer’s addition actually comes on the heels of another One Chicago alum on International. Chicago Med‘s Colin Donnell appeared on the final two episodes of Season 3 as an NSA liaison. At first it was assumed he might be taking over for Kleintank, but now it looks like Soffer will be the one heading up the Fly Team. It will be hard to get used to not having Forrester around, but the possibilities are endless for what Soffer’s character will bring to the team.
FBI: International has seen some cast changes as of late on top of Jesse Lee Soffer and Luke Kleintank. After Heida Reed exited in the Season 3 premiere as Special Agent Jamie Kellett. Christina Wolfe, meanwhile, came on as Amanda Tate, an intel analyst. The FBI spinoff is still going strong even with all of the casting changes, and that won’t change for Season 4. Even though there aren’t many details surrounding Soffer’s character, with the show returning later this year on CBS’ 2024 fall schedule, it shouldn’t be long until more information is released.
It will be exciting to see Jesse Lee Soffer join the cast of FBI: International. He certainly has some big shoes to fill taking over for Luke Kleintank, but it’s nothing he can’t handle. Tune in when Season 4 premieres this fall only on CBS.