Chicago Fire Season 13 is now here, and with it comes change. Wallace Boden (Eamonn Walker) is now the Deputy Commissioner of the Chicago Fire Department and his role as Chief of Firehouse 51 has been filled with a new character, Dom Pascal, played by newcomer to the franchise Dermot Mulroney. But who is Pascal and what can we expect from Mulroney?
Who’s Chief Dom Pascal on Chicago Fire?
Dom Pascal comes to Firehouse 51 from Miami, where he spent the last decade as Chief. He, however, started his career with the CFD. And the character seems to be set up to stay because Chicago Fire hasn’t just cast this new Chief, it cast his wife too, with KaDee Strickland set to play Monica Pascal.
Described as a “cheerful person who works well under pressure, and whose leadership style differs from Boden’s” by Deadline, Pascal comes into the Firehouse in a very complicated moment, as Boden had wanted Herrmann to succeed him as Chief. In fact, in the Season 12 finale, Boden went as far as to tell Herrman that what he needed was to be a person “who looks out for people, who listens, who always leads with his heart.”
It was, of course, logistically complicated for Herrmann to go from Lieutenant to Chief in such a short space of time, but there was some hope that the series would bring in a character who could serve only as a stopgap until the day Herrmann could indeed take Boden’s place. Pascal, however, doesn’t seem to be that man. Particularly not when he’s played by such a big name like Mulroney.
The actor, who first rose to fame in My Best Friend’s Wedding, isn’t a stranger to broadcast TV. He isn’t even a stranger to firefighter dramas, as he had a stint on ABC’s Station 19. He has also appeared in Marvel’s Secret Invasion, The Righteous Gemstones, and Arrested Development, as well as in movies like Anyone But You and Scream VI.
From the get-go, his three most important relationships are indeed going to be with Herrmann, who might resent the fact that Pascal is in the Chief’s chair Boden wanted for him, with Severide, who seemed less than sure about him in what we’ve seen, telling Stella “There’s something about the new chief that’s a little off,” and with Stella herself. If he can convince his three Lieutenants that, despite the fact that he isn’t Boden, he can still be a good Chief, then there’s probably a future for him at Firehouse 51. If not? Well, he’s probably only going to be a source of drama this season of Chicago Fire.
This is network TV, so drama is a good thing. But drama can only take you so far. A show like Chicago Fire has made it to Season 13 not on drama alone – in fact, not mostly on drama either. If Pascal cannot integrate himself with the team, he probably cannot stick around for long. And the fact that he just moved back to Chicago after 10 years in Miami begs the question, why is he back?
And, if he’s keeping secrets from the team, will those secrets be the kind that come back to bite him and everyone else? Firehouse 51 is a tight group, and if it turns out Pascal is here running and not because he wanted to, that could put everyone in harm’s way. And one thing is for sure, Boden was the kind of Chief everyone would have gone to bat for. Pascal? He isn’t there yet. In fact, he isn’t even close.
