Chicago Fire returns tonight and there’s a lot of shaking up going on in the Windy City as Chief Boden (Eammon Walker) leaves Firehouse 51 and moves up to higher command and Chief Pascal (Dermot Mulroney) takes his place in command.
“I really think fans are going to have a great time this year,” Chicago Fire showrunner Andrea Newman told Parade. “Dermot is so much fun to watch and what Pascal does, all the impact he has on all the characters, it’s a lot of new things with people that we love and know so well, so it’s a beautiful combination. We’re definitely going to dive deep into the characters this year. I still say it’s our rollercoaster year, but it’s definitely deep into the characters.”
Despite the character changes, it’s business as usual as the first responders go about their duties. You’d think that after 12 seasons, there wouldn’t be anything new, but Newman says Season 13 will still feature new calls.
“Truth is stranger than fiction really works for us because we have all these real firefighters on the show, along with the producers and the actors,” Newman says. “They come to us with stories about what happened yesterday and they’re like, ‘I can’t believe we’ve never done that, let’s do that.’ So the stories just keep coming because life goes on and fortunately, people keep doing crazy things.”
“People come and go,” Newman says. “I know Boden said that, and that’s part of life. But there’s an element of once you’re part of 51, you’re always part of 51. So Boden’s presence is still very much felt. And the opportunity to put someone in a high-profile position like this is different than putting someone on a rig or a fire pontoon. It’s really the tone of the fire department.
“It’s basically like an earthquake when Chief Pascal (Dermot Mulroney) walks into the fire department for the first time. And that’s going to affect all the characters. We, as writers, see it as an opportunity for new dynamics and new relationships and seeing sides of people that you haven’t seen before.”
Pascal is moving back to Chicago from Florida, where he’s been a firefighter for years, but he wants to close out his career where he started. Plus, there’s some secrecy involved.
“From the beginning, we knew we wanted someone who was very different from Boden,” Newman said. “We instilled that quality in the character, which was, ‘I’m not here to replace Boden, I’m not here to try to fill his shoes, I’m not Chief Boden, and I’m never going to try to be. I’m Chief Pascal, and things are going to change here. I have different rules, different approaches to things.’ “I think the main thing I want to say about this guy is that he plays very private. He’s a very mysterious guy. He doesn’t like to show his cards, he’s not the Boden type of guy, the guy who comes in and lets talk. He’s a guy who makes films about human nature and he studies our firefighters.” While he’s trying to peel back their layers and learn about them, they’re also trying to do the same with him and finding it very difficult.”
“What’s interesting is that there are a lot of surprises in that conflict,” Newman said. “There are characters that we think are going to be attached to the guy at the top, and other characters that we think are going to have issues with him. I think there are surprises in how people react, even to themselves, how they’re affected by this guy. Yeah, there’s definitely going to be conflict and there’s going to be people trying to figure out how best to understand him.”
“Dermot was a gift to us,” Newman said. “We had the character in our heads to a certain extent, and that’s often how we write, we have a certain amount of space to form the character and then you bring the actor in and see what the actor [brings]. Dermot is really talented and he’s a really great collaborator. So, we talked about this Pascal character from the beginning and what Dermot himself could bring to this character that was different from what other people would bring. He just has this mysterious smile where you don’t know what he’s thinking. It’s Pascal’s smile, we just stole it from Dermot. It’s just what’s on his mind and what he’s thinking at the moment. But yeah, he’s got talent.”
