It was only a couple of seasons ago on Chicago Fire that showrunner Andrea Newman and the writers paid quite a bit of attention to Firehouse 51’s two most senior firefighters: Christopher Herrmann, played by David Eigenberg, and his best friend, Randall McHolland (affectionately known as Mouch), played by Christian Stolte.
The two firefighters faced the challenges of both their bodies and skill sets wearing down, which typically comes with aging in that profession. They had to ask themselves tough questions about when the right time might be to hang it up. But last, season, Herrmann was presented with a new fresh opportunity to rise up the ranks as a captain. It was an opportunity he quickly realized wasn’t to his liking, and instead he made a way for this buddy, Mouch — who was also trying to rise within the ranks — to become a lieutenant and be second in command within Firehouse 51.
But with great power comes great responsibility, Stolte tells The Hollywood Reporter. “It was only in very recent years that could be even a plausible storyline, that he would have even attempted it,” Stolte says of Mouch’s journey in applying and testing to become a commanding officer in a firehouse. “It did not seem to be something that was on his mind in the first 10 seasons, so it was a bit of a surprise to me. But I also did start to feel like at some point I’m less and less inclined towards that bare minimum firefighter approach, and we played with that. It started to feel like, not even necessarily that I as an actor wanted more, but that the character might be in a position to finally look at himself and say, ‘Can I do better? I think I can do better?’”
Stolte says “as an older gentleman” at age 62, “I love seeing that. I love seeing a guy that’s not just put himself out to pasture. It’s like, ‘I’m not dead yet.’ What can you do? What can I do that would be better and more helpful and serve people better than what I’m doing right now?”
Showrunner Newman tells THR that the last moment of last season’s finale was pivotal scene to set this year’s tone for the Universal Television and Wolf Entertainment-produced series. In that scene, Lt. Herrmann tells Mouch that he has had his moment, and now it’s time for someone new to take the reins of leadership in firehouse.
“It was a beautiful moment, as that friendship is like the heart of the show in so many ways. But as this season starts, you realize very quickly it’s not that simple,” Newman says. “It’s not just, ‘Oh, here’s my magnanimous gesture and off we go to be best friends again.’”
Stolte says he can see how some viewers will question Herrmann’s kind gesture to Mouch, especially since the former has five kids to support, to one distant daughter on Mouch’s side. “Don’t worry, we are going to get to all of that,” Stolte says. “For David and me, who have been here since episode one, it’s great to be able to play a different dynamic with one another. Our real-life dynamic has made its way into the characters’ dynamic. It’s a pretty accurate reflection of how we really are together. So it is great for us to finally get to play the uneasy stuff.”
Newman agrees: “Yes, real fights. We have never seen them have real fights before. The friendship is going to take a hit and will evolve into something else. It has to evolve into something else. That choice [by Herrmann] is a difficult and a complicated one, and is going to have all kinds of repercussions.”
So, what is the theme for this season?
“There is one main theme and it felt very right for us going into the 14th season,” says Newman. “It is ‘Stories.’ The stories that are told to us, the stories that we tell ourselves and how that affects choices. The story for Mouch was: I am this guy who sits on the couch and I’ll retire in a few years. But the story changed and evolved. It was, ‘Oh, get married and have kids, and your life will be the fairy tale and go this way.’ Well, no! That story is out the window fairly quickly.
“The story changes and evolves for Severide and Kidd [Taylor Kinney and Miranda Mae Mayo]. The generations before have told these guys stories about what being a firefighter really is. Everybody has a story to tell, and everybody has to face how it really is, versus the story version.”
And what about the relationship between Firehouse Chief Dom Pascal (Dermot Mulroney), who had a highly contentious relationship with his team after taking it over last season from the promoted, and beloved, Chief Wallace Boden (Eamonn Walker)?
Newman says that, although Pascal started off as a mysterious and stand-offish guy, Severide’s help, and the firehouse’s compassion for during the tragic death of his wife, have helped the chief to be more gracious and open to the team he commands.
“A real crisis starts this season with budget cuts and ranks,” Newman says. “Everything get a little shakier. And, what is he in charge of if there are only two battalion chiefs? Is he in charge of one or 10 firehouses, and all of sudden fewer firefighters? So it’s a crisis and that brings families together. Pascal is kind of balling at the beginning of the season like we have never seen him before. Because he is stepping up to say, ‘All right guys, we are in this together.’”
Both Stolte and Newman agree that Firehouse 51 showing up at Pascal’s wife funeral uninvited last season was probably the turning point.
“It was the line, ‘This is for family only,’ and us saying, ‘That is why we’re here,’” Stolte says.
