The actor left the series he starred on for 12 seasons last year.
Eamonn Walker is returning to his Chicago Fire post.
First Deputy Commissioner Wallace Boden is back for one night only in the upcoming season 13 episode titled “Post-Mortem,” airing April 16 at 9 p.m. on NBC.
Walker starred on the Dick Wolf procedural from seasons one through 12, exiting the series last season when his character accepted a promotion to Chicago Fire Department’s Deputy Commissioner.
Here’s the logline for his episode, “Boden has been tasked by Commissioner Grissom to run a post-incident analysis following a house fire that collapse with a firefighter inside.”
Chicago Fire showrunner Andrea Newman says of his return, “We’re so excited to have our beloved Chief Boden back, and the episode, titled ‘Post-Mortem,’ is a thrill ride unlike any we’ve done before. Told with flashbacks and unique POVs, Chief Boden leads our team on a search to discover the how, who and why of a fierce firefight that ended in disaster.”
She had teased Walker’s return when speaking with The Hollywood Reporter recently about the Chicago three-way crossover event that merged Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med‘s storylines on Jan. 29.
Explaining his absence in the mega-event, Newman told THR, “He’s not on the crossover because that’s Pascal’s [Dermot Mulroney] leadership, but we’ve got a great twisty-turny, unique format episode where he is the centerpiece. Boden will be back, that is the plan.”
The 13th season picked up in the aftermath of outgoing Chief Boden (Walker) casting a shadow over Firehouse 51. With Boden going on to higher aspirations within the hierarchy of the Chicago Fire Department, the crew is now run with a different leader in Dom Pascal, played by the new addition of Mulroney. “Boden had a speech at the end of last season, about change being inevitable. We try to keep it real, and people do come and go from firehouses. But the big change is obviously the new chief coming in,” she told THR of season 13. The plan, she said, was to see Boden again: “He is a part of our world, still.”
Chicago Fire is produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, in association with Wolf Entertainment.
