The Real Reason Jon Seda Reunited With His Former Chicago PD Co-Stars

Don't get too excited, "Chicago P.D." fans — it looks like Jon Seda won't be headed back to the drama next season. While viewers' hopes were stoked up for an Antonio Dawson return after Seda posted a cryptic photo at the wrap party for "Chicago P.D." Season 11 on his Instagram, it looks like the actor was there for a very specific reason — he was invited by Jason Beghe, who plays Hank Voight on the show.

Speaking to ScreenRant, Beghe explained, "The context was we had a cast party, and I had been talking to Jon, and we'd been meaning to get together. And I said, 'Hey, why don't you just come to the cast party, be my date?'" Beghe acknowledged that the picture then spread all over the internet: "I don't read the papers, but people said it was all over, like this big thing." 

While fans are likely to be let down by this new revelation, it turns out that Beghe still holds out hope that Seda will return to the drama, and even thinks it might happen on a limited basis.

While Jon Seda's appearance at the "Chicago P.D." wrap party may not have signified the return of Antonio Dawson, Jason Beghe told ScreenRant that he hopes Seda will play Dawson again — but acknowledged such choices happen at an executive level. "Obviously, it'd be wonderful to have him back," Beghe said. "He's a fantastic actor, and just a classy gentleman, professional, just fantastic human. So, I'm in, but I'm not the one who makes that call." 

He added that the show's writing team and acting crew would be happy to clear out narrative space for Seda: "If he's interested, I'm sure we could make at least some space for an arc if he doesn't want to be a series regular." In conclusion, Beghe noted that the show needs new blood — spurred on by the exit of Tracy Spiridakos from the drama at the close of Season 11 and the recent departure of Jesse Lee Soffer — and added, "Who knows, maybe it'll be Antonio coming back."

When audiences last saw Antonio, he was in the grips of an opioid addiction and had been in the process of rebuilding a life for himself in Puerto Rico. So it would be wonderful to see how the character has rebounded — if, indeed, he has at all. Fans will find out who's staying and who's going when "Chicago P.D." returns to the airwaves this fall.