The One Thing About Chicago Med That Fans Agree Makes No Sense
Fans of NBC's sprawling "One Chicago" multiverse often pride themselves on their ability to track every detail from the interconnected shows, even as they zig-zag around and within one another, with multiple crossover episodes that make a binge-watch particularly challenging. With nearly 500 episodes of four different series, that's a lot of plots and characters to keep straight. Yet no matter how closely fans follow along, there's one question that continues to bedevil fans, and keeps popping up time and again online.
That question, as any Chicagohead has probably guessed by now, sounds deceptively simple: which Halstead brother –- "Chicago P.D." cop Jay, or "Chicago Med" doctor Will -– is the older one? Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer) was first on the scene, while Will (Nick Gehlfuss) was first introduced in a Season 2 episode of "P.D." before spinning off to "Med," and questions have followed the pair ever since.
Eagle-eyed viewers have noticed conflicting clues dropped on both shows, and now, the issue has found new life in a Reddit thread, where u/Aethermist88 wrote, "Who is older, Will or Jay? I can't seem to find the answer to this. Will seems to act like the younger brother, Jay seems to look like the younger brother. In one episode (I don't remember which one), I remember Will referring to Jay as his older brother, but I also remember Will calling Jay his little brother at one point as well. ... Or are they fraternal twins who don't know who is older or who is younger lol."
First Will was older, but now it appears producers switched course
The answer appears to be convoluted, because, as Redditor u/Excellent-Medicine29 put it, "It's one of those changing facts." It was simple at first –- in Jay's first episode, the brothers' relationship was clear. "When he was introduced in PD Jay does refer to him [Will] as his little brother," noted user u/ell_fin. Indeed, this was confirmed by a 2015 tweet from Soffer (who plays Jay), in which the actor was prehaps reacting to new information, writing, "Oh snap! Halstead has an older brother!"
But not so fast. Multiple fans pointed to some strong evidence indicating the opposite is true. "Will is older," wrote u/HyalinSilkie. "There's a little bit of resentment between the brothers because Will left to go to Med School while Jay was left behind before joining the army. And ... when Jay is being held captive by the guy with a deadly virus, Will wants to go in with the police to protect his baby brother." There's a Jesse Lee Soffer tweet to back up this evidence too. Five years after posting that Jay "has an older brother," the actor reversed course by tweeting, "Will is older on TV. Jesse is older in real life."
So what's the deal? It appears that the powers that be in the "One Chicago" head office simply changed their minds after watching the brothers' dynamic play out on screen, deciding ultimately that Dr. Will is older than officer Jay. The only references to Jay being the big bro occurred back when Will joined the cast, but in recent years, the shows have firmly established Jay as the baby brother. "Either that," original poster u/Aethermist88 replied, "or even the writers can't agree on who is older/younger lol."