Chicago Fire fans were left in tears earlier this week as actress Kara Killmer said farewell to Firehouse 51, with paramedic Sylvie Brett marrying her fiancé Matt Casey and departing for a life in Portland with her new family. Although fans have been upset to see Killmer say her goodbyes, series creator and writer Michael Brandt believes that her departure was really just a natural progression for the series.
Brant serves as writer on the new Mark Wahlberg movie Arthur the King, and while speaking exclusively to MovieWeb about that venture, he shared his thoughts on Killmer’s exit from Chicago Fire after a decade. Brant told us:
“Well, I mean, Kara, she had a really great long run. She did an amazing job jumping in, in a difficult time actually, because, you know, we were losing Lauren German at the time, who everybody loves, and she seemed a little irreplaceable. And thankfully, Kara came in and just kind of steadied the ship, and ended up being there, what, 10 years or something? Maybe I’m off a year or two, but she steadied the ship. Her and Casey, Jesse Spencer, that was a real and great legitimate thing after what happened with Dawson. So it’s the natural progression of a successful network show, that there’s turnover and actors wanna go do something else. Like I said, it is grueling. It does feel like it’s never ending. But it’s great to see her go, I’m interested to see what she does next.”
The Chicago Franchise Has a “Really Cool Family Atmosphere”
Chicago Fire originally aired in 2012, and became the first series of what would become the “Chicago” franchise. Just a year after the show’s debut, NBC announced a spin-off police procedural drama, Chicago P.D., and this was subsequently followed by Chicago Med in 2015, and the short-lived Chicago Justice in 2017.
Having had a role in developing all three spin-offs, and acting as executive producer, Brandt knows that there is a need for the franchise to keep things moving, but also sees the whole thing as being like one big family unit. He added:
“The whole Chicago thing is, with three shows and all the actors and crew there, it’s a really cool family atmosphere. And when you’re playing first responders, there’s a certain responsibility for that. So the best thing for all the producers is it kind of keeps everybody in line, because you have real firefighters playing extras, making not very much over the course of a day, who just came off a 24 hour shift, you know, really saving people’s lives. So, it’s, it’s an honor to get to it.”
Chicago Fire kicked off Season 12 in January, and the sixth episode, which featured Killmer’s final scenes, premiered on February 28. New episodes debut on NBC each Wednesday.
