Two years after his departure from Chicago P.D., Jesse Lee Soffer is staying within the Dick Wolf universe for his big return to series television. As the new team leader of CBS' globe-trotting police procedural, FBI: International, Soffer officially moves on from Detective Jay Halstead, the character he played from 2013 to 2022, and begins a fresh chapter as Agent Wesley "Wes" Mitchell.

Discussions did take place between Soffer and showrunner Matt Olmstead, who oversaw the first five seasons of P.D., about whether Jay could feature prominently on FBI: International. After all, the One Chicago and FBI franchises are invariably linked, thanks to a P.D.-FBI crossover episode in 2020. "We joked about it," Soffer told TV Guide. "It was never out of the cards to come back one day." While viewers won't be seeing him flashing his badge as Jay in the streets of Budapest, there is plenty to discover about Wes, whom Soffer describes as unconventional, unaffected, and playing by his own rules.

Ahead of Soffer's debut on FBI: International, the actor opens up about why he signed on to lead the CBS procedural after Luke Kleintank's exit, the differences between Jay and Wes, and why he's okay with forever being associated with his P.D. character.

TV Guide: Did you ever imagine that you would find yourself leading another Dick Wolf series?

Jesse Lee Soffer: It was never out of the cards, even when I left P.D. It was not out of the cards to come back one day. I love that character and he's always going to be in my bones, and I was really grateful to Dick, Peter Jankowski, Anastasia Puglisi, and everybody at Wolf for the opportunity to direct P.D. And then I was like, I kind of want to go back and start acting again. So it wasn't a huge surprise. The surprise was that it was in Budapest.

What led you to say yes to FBI: International and decide that this was the show you wanted to come back for?

Soffer: It's a really fun show. It's really cinematic. I played a cop for so long on [P.D.], and Wes is another cop but he has less baggage than Halstead. It just seemed like a great fit. [Showrunner] Matt [Olmstead] called me after I got the offer and we talked about it. I get to bring a veteran vibe of a guy who knows what he's doing and does things his own way. And I get to bring that energy to this team and that was a fun opportunity.

It's been established that the One Chicago and FBI franchises exist in the same universe after Tracy Spiridakos' P.D. character appeared in an FBI episode in 2020. You're playing a completely new character here. Was there ever a discussion — even a fleeting one — about whether you would play Halstead again?

Soffer: Am I allowed to talk about this? [Pauses] We joked about it. And Hailey Upton's character did a crossover on FBI, so hypothetically her character exists in this universe. But the other joke is that, if she ever showed up on International, Wes would be like, "Do I know you?"

The new gig heralded a big reunion between the fast and furious driver and Chicago P.D. co-creator Matt Olmstead, who writes and executive produces on FBI: International.

“There’s so much action, the first episode is great,” he teased. “When Matt and I first started talking about doing this, we discussed who this character was going to be. I love Matt’s writing, which was one of the biggest draws for me to do this. He delivered; that first episode was so much fun and it felt like a pilot.”

He continued, “When you meet Wes, he’s in this complicated relationship and he’s obviously married to his work. You’ll see his girlfriend throwing out his shit because she thinks he’s cheating but he’s not. He’s just a hard worker but they get into this fight, and that’s how the episode starts. When he goes off afterward with his partner, who’s a close buddy, they get involved in a shooting when they’re chasing this robbery crew. But when his partner gets shot, Wes becomes a man on fire and chases these guys to Budapest. He reconnects with Cameron Vo (Vinessa Vidotto) there, with whom he has this whole backstory…The episode is packed with a lot of characters, backstories and a lot of action. It’s a great starting point for this new season of FBI: International and this new energy.”

The “new energy” arrives following the exit of Luke Kleintank, who led the series as Scott Forrester across the show’s first three seasons. Forrester made his final appearance in episode 11 on May 7 and his character was written off in the finale of Season 3 as having gone on the run with his mother with the pair heading to Alaska. In the final beats of the finale, the Fly Team fully welcomes Tank (Green) into the fold and is adopted by Raines (Carter Redwood). Does that mean he could be returning for a meet-and-greet with Wes?