The vibes heading into the new season of Chicago Fire are certainly a bit off this year. While fans are extremely excited for the new season, the arrival of season 14 is bittersweet as it’ll bring about the departures of several beloved members of the cast.
Daniel Kyri will be exiting the show early in the season, while it’s expected that Jake Lockett and Michael Bradway’s departures will have taken place off-screen, with neither expected to appear at the beginning of the season for a sendoff. We know that Carver (Lockett) has moved out of state to get a fresh start as he works on maintaining his sobriety, but it’s unclear how exactly Ritter (Kyri) and Damon (Bradway) will be written out of the show.
One strong possibility is that their exits will correspond with the layoffs about to strike the Chicago Fire Department. These layoffs were teased at the end of season 13 and they’re set to shake things up this season in many ways.
We’re already expecting that at least a few members of the 51 family will be impacted, either by getting laid off or being transferred to another firehouse in the city. We also know that the shakeups within the department will put a strain on certain members of the team, whose jobs are about to become more difficult with fewer resources.
While the season ahead will bring about a lot of trying moments for the characters and fans, the season will still bring about some exciting developments. Chief among them is a series of “surprise visitors” dropping by Firehouse 51 to shake things up.
As part of its Fall TV preview, Chicago Fire showrunner Andrea Newman revealed to TVLine that these changes will bring about “some soapy fun as surprise visitors pass through to lend a hand.” Newman did not provide additional information on who exactly these surprise visitors might be, but it seems highly likely they’ll be former members of the Firehouse 51 family.
The biggest question now is who exactly might these surprise visitors be.
There have been many characters who have come and gone over the years, but few characters’ exit came by them simply moving on to another firehouse in the city of Chicago. So the list is quite small.
One name that comes right to mind is Kylie Estevez. We saw Kylie coming and going last season as she dropped by 51 to assist with shifts as a floater. We know she’s landed at another firehouse, but perhaps she’ll make her way back to 51 for an episode or 2 as part of these surprise visits.
There’s also Gianna Mackey, who left the show in season 9 to move to a new firehouse and hasn’t been seen since. Mackey would certainly be a fun surprise guest to drop into Firehouse 51 during this shift within the CFD and a way to bring someone back into the mix. Her return would make sense if the firehouse is turning to outside members of the team to help with the workload, and it would be really fun to see Mackey back after all these seasons.
We would also welcome another return from Eamonn Walker as First Deputy Commissioner Wallace Boden. Boden dropping into 51 to lend a hand would certainly be on brand for 51’s former Chief and we would love to see more of Walker on the show following his exit as a series regular in season 12. Perhaps he could drop in to help run the house during a week when Chief Pascal is on leave, or maybe he comes in to help the house adjust to their new normal with words of support. We don’t care about what brings him to 51, we just would love to see Boden back in some capacity.
Of course, there are an endless number of characters who could fit the bill of being a surprise visitor, so it’ll be exciting to see who might pop up in the season ahead!
Chicago Fire returns Wednesday, October 1 at 9/8c on NBC.