Chicago Fire’s Jake Lockett Talks Carver’s Spiral, His In-Question Job Security and His Future With Violet
Sam Carver is on thin ice at Firehouse 51.
During last week’s Chicago Fire, the firefighter made more than one misstep on the job, prompting his lieutenant Stella Kidd to send him home with a warning. But Carver’s bad-news girlfriend Tori saw his situation differently: Why continue to be underappreciated at 51 when there are several firehouses in Austin that would be happy to have him, she suggested. So will Carver seriously consider leaving the Windy City behind?
“I think this is that kind of fork in the road for him,” his portrayer Jake Lockett tells TVLine ahead of this Wednesday’s episode (NBC, 9/8c). “What is he going to do? Is he going to stay true to this group of people that maybe see him for the best person he can be, even if he isn’t being that person at the moment? Or is he going to go the comfortable way? I think that’s really the question. Sometimes, we make one decision over the other one, and you have to deal with those consequences.”
Read on as Lockett reflects on Carver’s evolution, his character’s feelings for Stella and Violet, and the spiral that the firefighter has been on this season.
I’m so impressed. You’re an aerospace engineer? How did you make the transition into acting from that field?
Well, I guess, technically, I was. I definitely don’t practice anymore. That transition was an interesting one. I worked for Boeing for a couple years, and I guess when you’re in a cubicle room with no windows, I realized I don’t want to do this anymore. This isn’t the way I want to spend the next 40 years of my life. So I moved into performance, and I’d acted in high school a bit, so I started playing music and then that led me to some TV [and] student film auditions, and next thing you know, here you are.
When you were cast on Chicago Fire, my first thought was, “It’s the Capital One guy!” I recognized you from those commercials because they were everywhere. They were on TV all the time.
[Laughs] Yeah. That was a great commercial. That was a fun commercial. It’s still running now, but with someone else who shot at the same time I did. It was a really cool commercial, too, because we shot it on the same screens down in Manhattan Beach that they shot The Mandalorian on. These round, LED screens that had ceilings and everything, so you’re like in the middle of that world, except with these, like, 20-foot-high wrap-around screens.
Congratulations on getting promoted to series regular this season. When we broke that news, it felt long overdue.
Thank you. I’m excited. This is a group of people that, really, from the jump have accepted me as such, and it’s nice to have everything reflected in the same way. I think Carver’s had such a nice, significant role in the firehouse that, hey, let’s keep it going. I’m having a blast.
It’s interesting to look back at Carver and what he was like when he was first introduced as sort of an antagonist to Stella compared to what he is like now. What have you enjoyed about his evolution? And how has it been playing Carver this season when he’s so much more broody and moody?
Oh, I know. A lot of people look at it as him being a jerk. At the beginning, when he first came, I just felt like he’s a guy who’s willing to say, “No, that’s not your business. You don’t know me like that,” and I think for him, that’s the safest place, or that was the safest place. So watching him evolve from being that guy to someone who’s reaching out, being a part of the family and leaning on the family at specific times, it has been a really awesome experience. I think it’s something that people deal with in real life, like, “Hey, I don’t know who you are yet. You don’t know me,” and warming up to someone, getting to know someone, and that’s what we’ve done. It’s been a very natural evolution for him to come and be a part of the firehouse and to let people into his life, and now they are. We’re starting to see that even more this season.
Now, he’s definitely a little more conflicted this season. Everything in the past seasons, he’s been very like, “Hey, this is where I’m at.” This season, he’s a little bit more in conflict not only personally, but like interpersonally with other people in the firehouse, and I think that’s forced him inward again, and that’s what we’re dealing with. After becoming someone who is willing to lean on the firehouse, he opened up with very big feelings with Violet, and then to come out of that not feeling received — Not even not received. I think if she would have just had a conversation with him, it would have been one thing, but the way it ended was such an explosion that I think it forced him back inward, and those boundaries came up. So now he’s out here, trying to decide who he can trust, and when you don’t know who you can trust, everything feels very like, “I’m not talking,” a little bit more of that broody nature you’re talking about, and it’s been fun. It’s been a challenge.
When he was first introduced, he developed feelings for Stella. First of all, do you think he was in love with her? And second, was there a part of you that was like, “Oh, man, I don’t want to go up against Severide”?
[Laughs] I think everyone who knows the show knows that Severide is a formidable person, so not the best move. But I think there was history… I think love is a strong push — not that I’m saying it wasn’t there. But I think, really, what was there is the history and the not having found closure on the history in the past, and then walking into this situation, feeling like, “Oh, man, here’s all this stuff that’s happening again. How do I deal with it?” I think it went a way that is best for Carver, for sure, and I’m happy with, for sure. But I think it was just a matter of him dealing with past emotions that he hadn’t closed the book on.
How did you react when they started to shift away from that to hinting at something between him and Violet?
I feel good about it. I love working with Hanako [Greensmith]. She’s phenomenal, and Violet is such a raucous character. She’s someone who’s no holds barred, willing to throw down with anybody. She’s such a good match for Sam in that regard, so I think that was good. I was excited about it. It was a great transition. I think it also allowed for opportunity to grow Carver in different ways because, obviously, there wasn’t much future in the other situation. So him [being] like, “Hey, I’m just going to, like, lean into the firehouse, in general, and have this kind of organic thing pop up” was a really nice change.
Not a good influence on him, though, this season is Tori. What is it about her that keeps just drawing him in so that he can’t walk away from her, even though he’s starting to kind of spiral?
Yeah, I think the spiral is real. I think for him, it’s the comfort. It’s someone that knows his past. Growing up together, she’s seen the dark sides of him, and she understands how his darkness is. She also has her own darkness. And being able to fully deal with that and not judge him on it, not try to change anything, is an easy way out for him. I don’t know if it’s the best way out for him, but it’s definitely an easier way out for him.
I think there’s also some manipulation going on there. Tori is someone who really believes in a relationship, and the question is, like, is it to the detriment of both of them? … It’s definitely something that it is uncomfortable at times because Tori pushes his boundaries and makes him question certain things that I think his character is not into. But because you have this person who you have feelings for and has been there for you, you get put into this kind of gray space where you’re like, “Man, I don’t know where to step next.”
Is there anybody that tries to confront him or calls him out on what’s been going on?
Yeah, I think there’s some opportunity in this next episode that you’ll see where people in the firehouse…that I’m really excited about the audience seeing, because it’s people that I really respect on the show, as actors and as characters, that [are] forcing me to look in the mirror. Again, we’ll see if he responds in a way that puts him in the best light or if he doesn’t.
There’s been quite a bit of distance and iciness between your character and Violet of late. Can we expect any interaction between the two of them that’s not just avoiding each other’s stares from across the room?
I feel like there’s opportunity there, but now Flynn’s in the picture. So I’m looking at it from, like, the 20,000-foot view. It feels like it could get awkward quick. How do you feel about it?
