Every “Chicago Fire” season has some twists and turns, and the show is known for its copious casting changes. Even so, season 12 offers one of the bigger whammies on both fronts when longtime star Kara Killmer withdrew the series.
This was already in the air, of course. Killmer’s character, Sylvie Brett, was in a relationship with another major “Chicago Fire” player, Matt Casey (Jesse Spencer), who had been a peripheral figure since Spencer left the show in season 10. “Brettsey” were easily one of the most prominent and tumultuous couples in the show’s history, and after Casey moved to Portland, their long-distance relationship turbulence columinated in a season 11 cliffhanger where he proposed to Brett. Season 12 reveals that Brett’s answer was yes, and things lead organically to their wedding and move to Portland in season 12, episode 6 — “A Port in the Storm.”
It’s as much of a fairytale ending as you can imagine two One Chicago characters to have, and this very much contributed to Killmer’s departure from the show.In an interview with TV Insider, she shed some light on her character’s “Chicago Fire” exit and confirmed that Brett’s arc — which, she pointed out, had started with a wedding disaster — simply came to a close:
“I think this is definitely the natural conclusion for Sylvie’s character arc. I am so selfishly delighted over the fact that she came to Chicago because she was a jilted bride, left at the altar by her high school boyfriend in Fowlerton, Indiana, and then ends up after 10 years across the aisle from the love of her life and obviously the most eligible bachelor in all of Chicago and Portland. So it’s such a satisfying ending for my character.”
Killmer had plenty of time to prepare for the departure
Some One Chicago exits are somewhat sad, especially in cases where the actor is written out of the show for dramatic purposes, like Yuri Sardarov’s Otis dying in season 8. Other times, the decision to write out a character is financially motivated, like when Jack Lockett’s Sam Carver left “Chicago Fire” after season 13 as part of the network’s cost-cutting measures.
While Kara Killmer’s “Chicago Fire” departure seemed to be a storyline decision, the character’s truly happy ending makes it hard to view the exit as a sad one. Killmer herself definitely doesn’t seem too heartbroken. In fact, she told The Hollywood Reporter that she was informed about the impending exit well in advance, so when it was actually time to wrap her last batch of episodes up, she could just enjoy the experience:
“I had a lot of time to process Sylvie’s exit. And so these last six episodes, and certainly the last episode, all felt like bonus to me. I feel like I probably spent more time just savoring it and having fun, rather than necessarily doing a lot of grieving. It’s just such a fun place to be and it was a blast! I went out with a bang!”
