Good news comes to those who wait, and today it’s time for that patience to pay off for fans of NBC’s Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., and Chicago Med, as Deadline reveals that the main cast have officially signed their contracts for their respective upcoming seasons. Those at home can finally take a deep sigh of relief knowing that Taylor Kinney, Miranda Rae Mayo, and Dermot Mulroney will return to put out more blazes in Chicago Fire, while S. Empatha Merkerson and Oliver Pall will continue to save lives at Gaffney Chicago Medical Center in Chicago Med, and Jason Beghe will put on his boots and patrol the streets once again in Chicago P.D.
The news will come as a huge comfort, specifically to diehards of Chicago Fire, who have already seen plenty of upset after it was announced that series staples, Daniel Kyri and Jake Lockett, who appeared as Darren Ritter and Sam Carver, respectively, wouldn’t be returning for the show’s fourteenth season. Contracts were up for Kinney and Mayo, who both joined the series in its fourth season, while newcomer Mulroney only signed a one-year deal for Season 13. But now, fans can wipe the sweat from their brows and know that — at least for now — the trio is safe.
The Best Is Yet To Come for the One Chicago Franchise
There’s a lot of good to look forward to for the characters played by the six aforementioned actors, as each of them rounded out their seasons on a high note. For Kinney’s Kelly Severide and Mayo’s Stella Kidd, the future is looking incredibly bright after they received a positive pregnancy test in the Season 13 finale. And yet, no one is ever fully safe on our beloved procedurals — just look at what 9-1-1 did to Peter Krause’s Bobby Nash to up the stakes. When it comes to Chicago Fire, its showrunner, Andrea Newman, recently teased,
“We’re going to have a lot of turnover and a lot craziness going on in the CFD from the top, where people are being cut and moved, and everything’s going to get shaken up next season.”
That shakeup could very well be art imitating life, as budget cuts have forced each of the shows to make difficult cost-cutting decisions. In the fall, audiences can expect to walk into a 21-episode season for each of the titles, but don’t expect to see your favorites in every installment, as there’s a good chance that they’ll sit out at least one week due to financial restraints.
