Boden’s Chicago Fire Season 13 Replacement Will Be Very Different and Good for the Show’s Future
When Chicago Fire season 13 premieres in September 2024, viewers will meet Wallace Boden’s replacement, and the new character is expected to be very different from his predecessor, which promises to bring a new look to the show. Since the first season, Boden has taken on the role of Firehouse 51 station chief on the NBC drama. Unfortunately, Eamonn Walker, the actor who played Boden, left Chicago Fire before season 13, and a replacement was needed. Many had predicted that Boden’s successor would be a familiar character, possibly Christopher Herrmann, but that didn’t happen.
In the season 12 finale, Boden expressed that Herrmann was the person he wanted to replace him. However, it’s clear that the producers want to bring a breath of fresh air to the cast. As a result, a veteran fire chief from Miami will move to Chicago to take over Boden’s position at Firehouse 51. According to early details about the new character, he will bring the freshness that Chicago Fire has been in dire need of in recent seasons. NBC has tapped Dermot Mulroney to play Boden’s replacement for season 13 of Chicago Fire. Mulroney will play Dom Pascal, a veteran firefighter from Chicago who has been station chief in Miami for the past decade. He returns to Chicago to take the new job as station chief at Firehouse 51. Pascal also has a rocky relationship with his wife, Monica, which is expected to be a major factor in his storyline in upcoming episodes. On the surface, it’s easy to see how Pascal is different from Boden. In an interview with TV Insider, showrunner Andrea Newman elaborated on Pascal’s leadership style compared to Boden’s. “[Team leader Dom Pascal] is going to be a big change,” she said. “What brings him here will be revealed in the opening episode. He is a completely different kind of leader than Boden, who is always a father figure at home. [He] is an enigma, he wants to explore the layers of the firefighters to understand them better both as firefighters and as people, because knowledge is power to him. He has a sharp eye for those who cross the line. All of our characters will react differently to him, and there will be surprises about who sticks with Pascal and who doesn’t.”
Since Pascal’s leadership style will be different from Boden’s in Chicago Fire season 13, the firefighters will have to adapt to this new way of thinking. As Newman mentioned, some characters will connect with Pascal immediately, while others will be overwhelmed by his leadership values. Either way, this change will ultimately be a good thing for Chicago Fire.
It was inevitable that viewers would compare Pascal to Boden in Chicago Fire season 13. However, the writers took the right approach with the new leader by making him very different from his predecessor at Firehouse 51. By giving Pascal a personality that is the opposite of Boden, the show was able to avoid too many negative comparisons between the two. This way, Pascal could pave his own path instead of always being compared to Boden.
Of course, Pascal has important roles in the cast of Chicago Fire season 13. Boden has left such a lasting mark on the series that no one else could replace him, even if the show continued for another 10 seasons. But because Boden is such a unique character, season 13 can’t make Pascal a carbon copy of his predecessor. First of all, this plan would fail miserably for the reasons stated above. Pascal is his own character, and it would be disrespectful to simply repeat Boden’s story. Pascal needs to stand on his own, and it looks like he will.
By making Pascal an individual opposite of Boden, the Chicago Fire writers are also setting the stage for the conflict between Mulroney and Walker in season 13. Although Walker left Chicago Fire after 12 seasons, the actor is expected to have a recurring role in upcoming episodes, as Boden currently serves as Deputy Commissioner of the Chicago Fire Department. So it’s only a matter of time before Boden confronts his successor.
Given their differences (especially regarding the leadership of Firehouse 51), Pascal and Boden are likely to clash. Television shows are all about conflict, and the potential conflict between Pascal and Boden only adds to the drama viewers are looking forward to in season 13. However, fans will have to wait and see who will support Pascal and who will not when Chicago Fire season 13 premieres in the fall of 2024.
