Chicago Fire’s Miranda Rae Mayo: ‘Things Are Complicated Between Severide, Damon, and Kidd’
Stella Kidd and Kelly Severide don’t have kids yet on Chicago Fire — but they’re adopting a new family member in Severide’s half-brother Damon, who’s going to cause trouble for the couple.
In Wednesday’s episode (NBC, 9/8c), Damon disobeys Kidd’s orders during a phone call, then turns to Severide to defend him, leading to “a really difficult situation” for Stella, her character Miranda Rae Mayo tells TVLine.
“That’s her husband. Technically, that’s her brother-in-law, but first of all, he’s in the truck, and when we have a problem, you have to follow orders,” Mayor says. “This isn’t just a logistical error that could inconvenience someone for half an hour. People’s lives are at stake, and there’s a reason why there’s a chain of command. So it’s not just for the safety of the victim, it’s not just for Stella’s safety, it’s for his safety, it’s for the safety of the entire crew, and it’s a huge trust issue. In her mind, she needs to be able to trust him. If they’re going into a burning building, she needs to know that he’s going to follow orders because if something happens, it’s her responsibility, it’s the team’s responsibility. It’s important that he follows orders, and it’s a huge issue when he doesn’t.” Damon going around Stella to Severide for help, circumventing her ranking, only makes the situation more tense for the trio.
“It’s a fascinating episode, and I think [Severide] finds it particularly difficult because he values being a mentor to Damon, especially when he’s been abandoned by Benny,” Mayo teases. “I think there’s a part of him that feels very passionate and sincere about being there for his brother and having a brother be there for him.”
“It seems like it was just a misunderstanding or a miscommunication, so to see how that plays out, that’s when you really start to see things get complicated between Severide, Damon and Kidd,” Mayo added.
Below, the actress also talks about how Stella’s declaration that she’s not ready to have a family will impact “Stellaride” and foreshadow more tension between her character and new sheriff Dom Pascal.
TVLINE | Stella tells Severide that she’s not ready to have kids yet. What’s contributing to that feeling in her and preventing her from taking that step?
I know from my own experience and people in my life who have had difficult childhoods, I think that parenting becomes an even more important decision because we know what it’s like to live in a dysfunctional family. So like the choice to have kids is taken very seriously. I think that’s part of what she’s going through, really wanting everything to be ideal. I think she’s a bit of a perfectionist.
But also, both her and Kelly are firefighters. I also think that having a child is just costing her more in terms of her career right now. It doesn’t really affect Kelly the same way that it affects Stella. It would be a big sacrifice for her to have to take time off and spend a lot of time raising a child when Stella is really passionate about being a lieutenant, her truck company, and her fire department. So I think there’s just some fear around what it means to be a parent, especially in this field, and seeing kids, people get hurt, day in and day out. As she said in Episode 1, there’s a fear that comes over her, thinking about the possibilities of what that would mean for her own child and thinking about how that would take her out of the game for a minute, and I don’t think she’s ready for that right now.
TVLINE | When you see that in the script and you know that she’s going to have to give up her job to have a child, is there a part of you, as an actor, that thinks, “What does this mean for me? Am I going to have to take a step back from the show, too?”
Absolutely! Absolutely! And it’s interesting, as a human being, it’s funny, I can relate. I think I’m someone who wants to have children, and it’s funny, like, Stella and I, I feel like we have different mindsets.
TVLINE | Have you had any conversations with showrunner Andrea Newman about where the show is going, and has she reassured you that Stella’s presence won’t be diminished at all?
Yeah. I’m really lucky. The writers have shared that they want Stella to be, absolutely, in the middle of the action, and that’s where we’d love to see her. But who knows, that could change throughout the season. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I love her as a truck lieutenant.
