There’s even more baby drama ahead for Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) and Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) when Chicago Fire returns for its 14th season tonight. First, there was the adoption that fell through for the couple. And in the last season finale, Stella, who didn’t want to carry a baby, got a positive result on a pregnancy test, so now she’s going to have to find a balance between giving birth and her dangerous career.
“Life is difficult, parenthood is tricky, it’s a struggle,” showrunner and executive producer Andrea Newman tells Parade. “We like to throw every obstacle and wrench we can in every direction, in a good way.”
Kidd had a lot of concerns and struggles before she was able to tell Severide she wanted to start a family because she had worked really hard to earn her slot as a lieutenant at Firehouse 51, but once she knew a baby was imminent, meaning the adoption, her attitude changed.
“When it actually happens, a lot of those concerns and struggles go right out the window, and suddenly it just becomes about family and your kids,” Newman continued. “Seeing the transition for her between all of the concerns she had early on and what it actually looks like in play as a parent and a firefighter is something we’re excited to explore.”
Parenthood isn’t the only issue on Kidd’s plate. There’s a new firefighter at Firehouse 51, and she’s in charge of him. But there’s something not quite right about Sal Vasquez (Brandon Larracuente) and Kidd senses it immediately. Of course, his cocky attitude doesn’t help him make friends.
“He’s got a very mysterious family background, and what we like to play is the idea that he’s bringing, as everybody does in this firehouse, you bring your family with you in a way,” Newman explains. “It’s kind of the baggage. What’s in your duffle as you head to the locker room is your family and your past. We’ve seen that with a lot of our firefighters. There’s some similarities to Severide, who had a father who was a first responder and came up under that shadow. Sal has that, too, and we’re going to find out a lot more about him as we find out more about his father and the role his father’s played in his life.”
As a result, there’s going to be a lot to explore there as Kidd tries to rein him in and make him a part of the team.
“She’s been given a lot of firefighters that she’s had to mold or gotten into fights with,” Newman continues. “This is going to be a whole new challenge for her. This is going to be a different kind of a firefighter. It’s sort of like she was born to be the lieutenant to Sal Vasquez, this will evolve her and evolve Sal Vasquez at the same time.”
Another new addition for Season 14 is Anabeth Gish, who is playing the recurring role of Annette Davis, the mayor’s chief of staff. She appears in the premiere episode, and she doesn’t have great news for Chief Pascal (Dermot Mulroney) or the men and women of Firehouse 51.
“I think the dynamic between Pascal and the character of Davis is really compelling, because they’re people who put their teams first,” Newman adds. “Even though they’re supposed to be in political roles, they also care deeply about what they do and aren’t necessarily all about playing politics at the end of the day. They have similarities that’ll bring them together, and then they also have very different priorities that will tear them apart and cause all sorts of issues both for the firehouse and for Pascal personally.”
Also in the season premiere, both Jack Damon (Michael Bradway) and Sam Carver (Jake Lockett) have already transferred out of Firehouse 51. Damon to somewhere else in Chicago and Carver, we assume to Denver, which is where he applied. We do, however, get to watch the drama that causes Darren Ritter (Daniel Kyri) to leave.
‘Any of them could come back,” Newman says. “That’s what’s so great about it. We’ve shown it before in the course of the 14 years. You say your big emotional goodbyes and there they are a few weeks later. So, anybody can come back at any time, and these are characters that are obviously a part of the fabric of the show, and we care about deeply. So, it’ll be fun to see how they turn up and how it affects everybody in the firehouse, them being gone and then coming back when they come back.”
