The One Chicago franchise is keeping its leadership intact while letting go of some characters.
Longtime Chicago Fire leads Taylor Kinney (aka Lieutenant Kelly Severide) and Miranda Rae Mayo (Lieutenant Stella Kidd) have closed new deals to continue with the NBC drama for Season 14, as has recent addition Dermot Mulroney (Chief Dom Pascal), our sister site Deadline reports.
Over on the spinoffs, Chicago P.D.’s Jason Beghe (Sargant Hank Voight) and Chicago Med stars S. Epatha Merkerson (Sharon Goodwin) and Oliver Platt (Dr. Daniel Charles), all of whom have been with their respective series since their debuts, will also be back next season.
While Kinney, Mayo, Mulroney, Beghe, Merkerson and Platt will return, it is expected that most, if not all, of the One Chicago cast members will be absent from some episodes next season as part of cost-cutting efforts across all three shows, which will produce 21 episodes each. So don’t be surprised if so-and-so suddenly has to go out of town for another arson investigation or a leadership program.
Who’s Not Returning
At least two Fire actors will not be back as series regular next season: Jake Lockett and Daniel Kyri, who play firefighters Sam Carver and Darren Ritter, respectively, are poised to exit. However, last month’s season finale only set up Carver’s departure, hinting that he may take a job at the Denver Fire Department to get a fresh start away from his triggers. At the same time, Carver seemed to plant more roots in the Windy City, kissing his on-and-off love interest Violet and telling her that he loves her.
While Kinney, Mayo, Mulroney, Beghe, Merkerson and Platt will return, it is expected that most, if not all, of the One Chicago cast members will be absent from some episodes next season as part of cost-cutting efforts across all three shows, which will produce 21 episodes each. So don’t be surprised if so-and-so suddenly has to go out of town for another arson investigation or a leadership program.
Who’s Not Returning
At least two Fire actors will not be back as series regular next season: Jake Lockett and Daniel Kyri, who play firefighters Sam Carver and Darren Ritter, respectively, are poised to exit. However, last month’s season finale only set up Carver’s departure, hinting that he may take a job at the Denver Fire Department to get a fresh start away from his triggers. At the same time, Carver seemed to plant more roots in the Windy City, kissing his on-and-off love interest Violet and telling her that he loves her.
Meanwhile, no clues where offered as to how Ritter might say goodbye to his friends and colleagues.
In an interview with our sister site TVLine, showrunner Andrea Newman was hopeful that both Lockett and Kyri will return in the fall in some capacity to give closure to their arcs.
“It’s a great thing that we have people come and go on this show. They’ll leave and then we’ll get to see them again,” Newman said. “It’s like you never know what will happen. Anything could happen with [Carver and Violet]. We love Jake, we love the character of Carver.”
Looking ahead, Newman noted that Carver “has a big decision to make, and if he makes one to stay, does that put this onus suddenly on Violet, like he stayed for her, and if he can’t stay well and stay clean when he’s there, is it her fault? So it’s this beautiful coming together, but it brings up all these questions and impossibilities. So we’ll see how that shakes out.”
As for Ritter and the plan for his exit, Newman is waiting to see “how much time we get with Daniel [Kyri], who we love, and the character, who we love. There’s lots of possibilities there,” she said.
More Exits Ahead?
Mulroney’s confirmed return comes following speculation that the actor was sticking around for just one season as the series set up Herrmann to potentially take over as Firehouse 51’s chief. But in the season finale, Herrmann announced that he wasn’t interested in the job and was stepping down to be a regular firefighter so that his buddy Mouch could take over as Engine’s lieutenant. That means that Pascal “will stay as battalion chief — until the CFD axe starts lurking above his head,” Newman teased.
And Pascal isn’t the only one with their job potentially on the chopping block: The efficiency expert’s warning in an earlier episode that layoffs and forced resignations are coming will become a real reality for the 51 crew.
“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,” Newman previewed, teasing that “there will be hellos, and there will be goodbyes.
