CHICAGO P.D. Boss on MED Borrowing Jay Halstead: ‘It Exists in its Own Universe’

CHICAGO P.D.’s Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer) has had quite the busy season so far…but much of it has been on fellow ONE CHICAGO series CHICAGO MED.

Though Jay has been a full-time presence on his original series, he’s also appeared in seven of the first nine episodes of MED, as his brother, Will (Nick Gehlfuss), accidentally became entangled in a crime investigation and had to work as an undercover agent for the feds.

But how are the P.D. writers handling having one of their characters so deeply involved in another show’s storyline? (Though characters often move between shows, there are separate writers’ rooms for each series.) “We know it exists, we know there’s stuff going on,” CHICAGO P.D. boss Rick Eid acknowledges. “But it doesn’t really speak to what we’re doing on P.D. As long as we know what’s going on at MED, and as long as it doesn’t create a major conflict with how we see his character and what he’s doing with his real life, it exists in its own universe, in a way. Despite the ONE CHICAGO of it all, it is a bit distinct.”

Potentially complicating things is the fact that technically the shows are existing in different timelines: P.D.’s return episode picks up immediately after its fall finale, while MED moves forward in time. And while the P.D. writers “talked about” having a similar time jump at some point to sync up with its sister series, “it’s one of those things that if you think too hard about all of the time and the [previous] jumps, your head will explode and nothing will make sense,” Eid admits. “On some level, that’s the beauty of television and sophistication of viewers these days: people get it and just go for the ride. The whole suspension of disbelief thing that allows us to engage and use entertainment.”

Have you liked seeing Jay on CHICAGO MED?

CHICAGO P.D., Wednesday, January 9, 10/9c, NBC

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