Severide’s Back! ‘Chicago Fire’ Boss Talks Stellaride Issues & Promises the ‘Heat Is Still There’
Preview
“Severide’s got some big decisions to make” in Chicago Fire Season 12, executive producer Andrea Newman teases.
Taylor Kinney is back full-time after taking a leave of absence last January, and “Severide is front and center of this season,” the EP tells TV Insider. He is going to have quite a bit to fix now that he’s back, even though six months have passed between seasons. First and foremost? His relationship with his wife, Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo), who, as our exclusive trailer showed, “had to fly to Alabama, put [him] in handcuffs, and drag [him] home.” Ouch!
“There’s a lot of fun to be had there, and within moments of the [season] starting, you’ll see that although the heat is definitely still there between them, there’s a whole new dynamic that’s been created because of that going MIA that Severide did and there’s some tension and edge between them,” Newman previews. “The arson case that Severide throws himself into in the premiere is going to bring up a lot of that stuff. So the audience really hasn’t missed much in terms of what they’ve gone through. We’ll see it all in the premiere, when he agrees to take on this arson case and she isn’t so happy about it. She feels like arson is his drug and he just gets lost in it.”
Could that mean a time comes when Severide has to stop helping out OFI (Office of Fire Investigation)? That’s where those decisions come into play. “That’s the issue at hand [for Severide and Kidd]: How are they going to deal with this going forward and how does it change their relationship?” asks the EP.
Their relationship will change, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. “No couple stays the same forever,” Newman points out. (It also ties into the season’s theme of change.) “But they are deeply in love. They can’t keep their hands off each other. And I think they have to kind of work through this and get to a different place, maybe a better place. So like every couple, it’s real and it has its challenges and it never stays exactly the same.”
Kidd’s not the only one Severide left behind. Cruz (Joe Minoso) was the one who stepped in to lead Squad in the lieutenant’s absence. “Cruz is really his right-hand man, so there’ll be some lingering issues between Severide and Cruz about that and some stuff to work out there,” Newman shares.
Maybe Severide should just plan to buy a round at Molly’s once a week for the near future.
Chicago Fire, Season 12 Premiere, Wednesday, January 17, 9/8c, NBC
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O
This is the best show and I wish you can see it heat trun up make it like you are jumping off the lounge chair in every episode please just take anyone away from the stage it’s the people who are going to make it so good on the show stage the best show ever keep on making it better and so good we like it in Australia 😜 🔥
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I am just glad that Taylor Kinney is back on the show. Things seemed off without him. 😊🥰
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O
As a Chicagoan with a firefighter in the family, I plan to approach the new eps as usual: with a healthy mix of interest & skepticism. What irks me about the above article, though, is the author's gratuitously resorting, at the end, to a hackneyed cultural meme. As a Chicagoan with a firefighter in the family, I can assure her that tossing alcohol on a fire does NOT put it out.
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I’m not sure that I get your analogy at the end about throwing alcohol on a fire. I think her comment has more to do with buying your friends a drink as a way of an apology for forcing everyone who had to step up in his absence. Please thank your Chicago firefighter for their dedication and sacrifices they make protecting the citizens of Chicago.
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O
Thank you for buttressing my point exactly. As if buying someone alcohol is really the best way to say "Thank you" or "I'm sorry." Stupid -- even dangerous to some -- cultural meme. I can think of a lot more helpful ways to laud initiative or make amends, can't you? And harking back to one viewer's soap-opera plaint, throwing alcohol (at Molly's or anywhere) on fiery or even smoldering social confrontations is more apt of make them worse than better. Sorry I didn't make the analogy clearer. I'm not demanding no one ever buy someone else a drink; I'm just tired of seeing it be our #1 default assumption. It's a default because no one ever questions it; so I questioned it. On another note, I passed your kind words on to my son (who was a bg actor on the show early on). Thank you. (Did you catch the proud-mom vibe there? For the firefighting way more than the acting, of course.)
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O
I wonder if they are gonna actually fight fires this season or if they are gonna stick with the annoying soap opera no action crap they have been doing the past few years.
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According to Andrea Newman the show runner for the show says there will be plenty of action. If you’ve seen in the promo there is a delivery truck fire where a firefighter from what I believe to be from firehouse 17 gets severely burned. Unfortunately everyone has to take into consideration that the network is demanding cost cuts for every show, so staging fires, accidents and the like costs a huge part of their budgets. Not to mention the fact that as reported all the cast will not be in every episode in order to save money. So while you may be disappointed in not enough action for you it is unfortunately a necessity that the network not the show is demanding.
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I know Stellaride is a popular couple but the last year or so Stella (to me) has become intolerable. It’s all about her and it really is a show where everyone steps up not just her. IMHO
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I always try to understand why people make those comments. And for the life of me I don’t understand. I have asked numerous people who make similar comments to give examples of what they see as her acting the way you describe and surprisingly I never get a response. When she became the Lt. of truck 81 her position was the same as Casey’s. She has as just a major role as he had for 10 yrs. She gives orders, helps her crew, respects her colleagues. I don’t see her behavior any different than the way Casey approached the role. Severide’s departure for 8 episodes in season 11 also pushed her part more in the forefront than if she shared the screen with him. The writers have written her character as a strong and capable and I for one enjoy watching her character.
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