This week, Tommy is joined by actress Tracy Spiridakos, who became a household name playing Detective Hailey Upton on Chicago P.D. Now, she’s trading the city for the wilderness, taking on the role of Anna Pigeon in USA Network’s Anna Pigeon, based on the bestselling novels. Anna is a law enforcement park ranger who solves dark mysteries and murders in the wilderness of Glacier National Park, all while trying to outrun her own past. Today, Tracy opens up about what she misses most about playing Hailey Upton, what she’s most proud of when it comes to the character, and the grieving process of saying goodbye to a role she loved so much. She reveals whether any of Hailey’s personality traits have stayed with her, if she was surprised that Hailey and Jay became one of the most beloved relationships in the One Chicago universe, and whether she would really do a spinoff with Jesse Lee Soffer. Tracy also shares why she knew she had to say yes to Anna Pigeon, what went into creating an entirely new character after playing Hailey for so long, and what she believes Anna is truly searching for in the wilderness. She opens up about how navigating her own grief helped her understand Anna on a deeper level, what her personal journey with grief has looked like, and the self-care practice that helped her through some incredibly stressful moments. Tracy also gets candid about rejection and why even the lowest moments of her career never made her want to quit acting. And don’t miss Tracy’s mini rapid-fire “Hot Takes & Hangouts” interview, dropping Thursday, August 13th!

Subscribe, rate, and leave a written review if you enjoy this conversation! Tune in every week for new episodes of I’ve Never Said This Before.

Executive Producers: iHeart Media and Elvis Duran Podcast Network

Producers: Andrew Pugliese, Stephanie Lane

Follow us on socials!

Instagram: @neversaidthisbefore

YouTube: @NeverSaidThisBefore