Is another cast member actually gone from “Chicago Fire” following the Season 13 finale?
Just when fans thought a happy-ending love story was in the works, a shocking turn of events changed everything this week.
It seemed as though Sam Carver and paramedic Violet Mikami were finally heading for their moment, but in Wednesday’s episode “It Had to End This Way,” the emotional reveal didn’t quite go as planned.
When Mikami, played by Hanako Greensmith, finally shares a love letter detailing her emotions to Jake Lockett’s Carver, a firefighter struggling with his sobriety, Carver revealed he had already made a surprising decision to leave Chicago and focus on himself.
“Carver is really on a journey of his own that he’s been on for a while, and we wanted to portray that in a realistic way,” showrunner Andrea Newman told NBC Insider. “Not kind of make it too sweet and easy, what he’s going through. So what he’s going through is a lot.”
But before Carver left Firehouse 51 for the Denver Fire Department, he sent one last text to Mikami, which originally had her concerned.
The two shared a passionate kiss and both said “I love you.”
So does the ending mean Carver won’t be returning next season?
Not necessarily.
“We may not have Carver full-time next season, but we may have him for a bunch of it too, and I think there’s a lot left to figure out between [Violet and Carver],” Newman told NBC Insider.
Lockett addressed his possible departure on social media weeks before the finale aired.
“While I don’t exactly know what the future looks like, I do know that it won’t be exactly what it was and I am going to miss the hell out of that. So much pride in this journey,” he wrote on Instagram. “It’s been an honor bringing Sam to life and to every one of you, thank you for the love and support over the past three years. And most importantly, the people that I was on the ground with day and night… thank you for the family you are and times you have been and will be there for me. If you’re not in one of these clips, there will be more to follow. So many cherished memories.”
But it wasn’t all sad endings for the finale.
Taylor Kinney’s Kelly Severide and wife Stella Kidd, played by Miranda Rae Mayo, discovered she is pregnant with their first baby.
Meanwhile, the finale also centered on Pascal, played by Dermot Mulroney, being accused of trying to kill a man who crashed into his wife’s car, killing her. But Taylor Kinney’s Kelly Severide is out to find the real culprit — and he does.
“Chicago Fire” is no stranger to cast changes — especially with finales.
Season 12 of the hit “One Chicago” show saw one of the biggest cast departures to date as Chief Wallace Boden, played by Eamonn Walker, got a promotion that saw him leaving the hit show. Still, even he saw a brief return during Season 13.
