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Published Feb 10, 2026, 3:47 PM EST
Lloyd 'Happy Trails' Farley: the man, the myth, the legend. What can be said about this amazing - and humble - man that hasn't been said before? Or, more accurately, what can be said in public? Born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Lloyd is a master of puns and a humorist, who has authored one pun book to date - Pun and Grimeish Mint - and is working on a second. His time with Collider has allowed Lloyd's passion for writing to explode, with nearly 1,000 articles to his name that have been published on the site, with his favorite articles being the ones that allow for his sense of humor to shine. Lloyd also holds fast to the belief that all of life's problems can be answered by The Simpsons, Star Wars, and/or The Lion King. You can read more about Lloyd on his website, or follow his Facebook page and join the Llama Llegion. Happy trails!
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Last year's One Chicago crossover, "In the Trenches," stands as one of — if not the best — of the highly popular, not-frequent-enough events in the franchise's history. NBC is going back to the well with all three series — Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, and Chicago P.D. — crossing over on March 4. The trailer for the crossover boldly proclaims that "No one does crossovers like Chicago," and while that's very true, and there are explosions galore, topping last year's "In the Trenches" is going to be a challenge.
At least it looked that way. Then the last 10 seconds of the promo played, which proved that they are not only prepared to top it, they're also prepared to blow the minds of their fans with what may be the biggest explosion in the crossover itself: the return of Upstead, also known as Chicago P.D. alum Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer) and Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos). And it's what the crossover needs.
'Chicago P.D.'s Halstead and Upton Have a Complicated History
Image via NBC Driving the possibility of an incendiary reunion is a long, complicated history between Upton and Halstead. Upton is introduced as a detective, collaborating on a case with Intelligence in the Season 4 episode "Fagin," before accepting Voight's (Jason Beghe) offer to join the unit in the next episode, "Army of One." After her first partner, Erin Lindsay, leaves Chicago (and Sophia Bush leaves Chicago P.D.), Upton is partnered with Halstead, and the pair becomes a cohesive unit, developing a deep friendship that has them looking out for one another even outside the work environment, with Upton pushing Halstead to find help for his PTSD, and, in turn, Halstead helping Upton confront the abuses of her childhood at the hands of her father.
The Upstead train moves forward, and even a stop for Upton's brief romance with Ruzek can't derail it. It goes full steam ahead with their first kiss in Season 8's "Tender Age," and in the season finale, Upton proposes to Halstead. After an agonizing summer, the Season 9 premiere sees Halstead accept her proposal before turning around and asking her to marry him, saying he's known for years that he wanted it to be him and her, always. They keep it quiet from the team, hoping to keep the partnership professional while on duty for an entire episode before the team finds out. In Episode 9, "A Way Out," Halstead suggests they just go for it, and are spontaneously married in a secret courthouse wedding.
But because it's Chicago P.D., no one's happiness seems to last long (sorry, Burzek, but we are rooting for you), and when Soffer left the show, so too did Halstead, leaving the Intelligence Unit after growing increasingly anxious about the lack of a moral code in the unit. He signed up for a job with the army hunting down Bolivian drug cartels, an eight-month deployment, telling Upton, "I swear to you that we're gonna get through this because you're the love of my life, and if I'm yours, then you'll know that you have to let me go." On that, he leaves at the end of Season 10's third episode "The Great Man." Lousy, yes, and arguably well out of character, "but surely Upstead will live on," we told ourselves — because it had to.
Upton and Halstead's Relationship Took a Dark Turn on 'Chicago P.D.'
Then came that season's tenth episode, "I Can Let You Go," and the Upstead train comes to a disastrous halt. After weeks of no communication, Upton reaches out to his boss overseas, to learn that Halstead had extended the length of his assignment without telling her. It's a raw, heartbreaking moment, a cruel end with no reasonable explanation, and a proverbial slap in the face to someone who, finally, had put their trust in someone only to see it taken away. Upton files for divorce in the Season 11 opener, and, in "More," Upton makes the decision to leave the unit, and Chicago, looking to find healing away from the city that brought her together with Halstead, and ultimately pulled them apart.
"Good to see you," we hear Halstead say in the promo for the upcoming crossover, talking to someone who is then revealed to be Upton. As explained in Collider, the pair converge on Chicago on a case with the threat of deadly consequences. Upton is there as an FBI Special Agent, tied to a Detroit drug enforcement task force, while Halstead is deep undercover on a case that ties into the same investigation. But the why is secondary to simply having Halstead and Upton back in Chicago at all, and it's exactly what the One Chicago crossover needs.
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The crossover episodes have big character moments, like Amy Morton's Trudy Platt and her close encounter with death in "In the Trenches." But they also need those moments, increasing the intensity of the big crossover with a big emotional investment in the well-being of the characters we know and love. Reuniting Halstead and Upton might be the biggest emotional investment for One Chicago fans yet, knowing their story was left unresolved, and hoping that a catastrophic event doesn't prevent the two from some degree of the closure that they — and the viewers, by extension — were denied.
The brief moment in the trailer doesn't give us much, but those few words from Halstead are tinged with fear, not knowing how it will be received but recognizing that it isn't likely to be received well. Upton's look is a cross between "are you f**king kidding me" and uncertainty. What we do know is that both always put the job first, and with lives in the balance, that won't change. Where it goes from there? Take shelter.
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