SPOILER ALERT: This story includes storylines from “More,” the May 22 Season 11 finale of “Chicago P.D .”

Hailey Upton is no longer a Chicago resident. The Season 11 “ Chicago P.D. ” finale served as the final episode for Tracy Spiridakos , who joined the show midway through Season 4 and has been a series regular since Season 5.

The episode was one of the most emotional of the season, with the squad searching for Voight (Jason Beghe), who was being tortured by serial killer Frank Matson (Dennis Flanagan). Matson’s MO is forcing his first victim to call the person they love most, convince them to come rescue them — and then kill them both. Since Voight’s closest (and really only) friend is Hailey, that’s who Matson wanted him to call. In true Voight fashion, he refused to call and would rather be stabbed over and over again.

After that happened, in a delirious state, Voight saw Alvin Olinsky. Elias Koteas, whose character died in prison at the end of Season 5, returned for a brief moment, asking Voight what he got himself into this time. After Voight tells his old friend he’s ready to go out, Al tells him that Hailey’s not ready for him to leave — and it’s not his time yet.

Eventually, Hailey was able to get to Voight in time. After referring to himself as her father while in a near-death blur, he and Hailey were able to attack Matson. Although she was shot in the process, both survived — and Voight killed Matson with his own two hands.

Later, after they both got out of the hospital, Hailey broke down in tears to her boss, revealing that she needed to start over, but was scared to leave behind the team and scared she didn’t deserve something more. He reassured her that she could never lose him or the team — and that she does deserve more. In the final moments of the episode, she looked through different websites — FBI, FEMA, DEA — before getting into a cab and heading to the airport.

In a conversation with Variety , showrunner Gwen Sigan and Spiridakos break down Hailey’s emotional ending, how Al’s return came about and what this all means for Voight’s future.

Gwen, starting with you, when Tracy came to you about wanting to leave , did you immediately start figuring out how you’d write her off?

Gwen Sigan: Yeah, I was very sad but so rarely do you know that much in advance, so I was very grateful for that we had a whole season. It opened up all of the opportunities and in the room, we went through all the options and I’m really happy with what we settled on. It felt like the most fulfilling for that character.

Well, if this episode showed anything, it’s that no one is really gone in One Chicago world; the door is always open. Would you pop back in Tracy, if asked?

Tracy Spiridakos: Yes, I would love that — that would be amazing. It would be a dream.

So Hailey says she’s starting over. What do you think it looks like for her to start over?

Spiridakos: You know what, I haven’t filled in the blank for her as to what that ending is or what the answer is to where she’s going on her way to the airport. What I really loved about this ending is that we finally get to see her be happy. We get to see her find herself and do something that’s for her. It’s something completely different than we’ve seen as far as departures go for characters and for her, she’s been through a lot. I love that it’s in a place where she just gets to discover herself and see what else is out there for her.

Gwen, have you filled in the blanks of where Hailey is headed?

Sigan: I have my own version of where she went and what she did, but we wanted that ending to represent hope, opportunity and possibility. And so, the more open-ended it was, the more you get that feeling.

Personally, and I’m sure I’ll get flack for saying it, I’m happy it wasn’t about Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer) . But, fans do want that — was that ever a conversation about including him in that plan of why she’s leaving?

Sigan: Honestly, we went through all the options just to do due diligence and see if there was something interesting in all of them. In the room, how it shook out, was we wanted it to be about her — her story, her thing, empowering for her and a transformation for her.