‘Chicago Fire’s Joe Miñoso Opens up About Exit & Saying Goodbye to Cruz: ‘I Owe Him Everything’

Chicago Fire celebrates 300 episodes with a farewell to original cast member Joe Miñoso, who plays firefighter Joe Cruz, on Wednesday, November 4.

It was a heartbreaking start to Season 15 for Cruz, as the massive warehouse fire that carried over from last spring’s finale left him with a fractured spine and unable to do the job he loves. Now, the character continues to take steps in his recovery. Below, Joe Miñoso opens up about saying goodbye.

Congratulations on 300 episodes. What does that mean to you to reach that number? You’re one of the few there since the beginning.

Joe Miñoso: I mean, technically historic, apparently. I just found out that I’m the Latino actor with the most amount of episodes as one character in network history.

Congrats!

Yeah, thank you. Which I’m honored to even think that I could utter those words. It’s been the most life-changing experience. It is singularly the most important thing that’s ever happened to me. I would say that the most important thing was meeting my wife, but I met my wife on the show, so it’s kind of impossible to separate the two. And just to be able to say that 15 years in, it’s bittersweet to let it go because it’s been such a love story with the cast and the crew and just how many incredible moments we’ve had and the family we’ve created and the stories we’ve gotten to tell. I mean, it’s truly been just the greatest gift.

Peter Gordon/NBC

The premiere revealed what happened to Cruz, his injury. What was your reaction?

Shock. I remember I was sitting in the producers’ office and I was staring at all of the headshots in the room, and I just kept looking at my picture and recognizing that it would no longer be in the mix of the ensemble [with my exit]. And it was hard to hear at first, but at the same time, I really understood it. When you spend this much time, there are some firefighters that get maybe 20 years out of a career, and I’m five short of that. So I feel like I might as well have gone through the actual service.

We did so much with him. When we first met Joe Cruz, he was kind of aimless, sort of just a wise-ass and with a roommate and no real responsibility, and he grew into a leader, a potential lieutenant, a father. And in between all the things that we got a chance to explore with his brother and just his dating life and his professional life, I feel like we built a really full arc for a person, and that’s such a rare opportunity in television for any performer. So the fact that we got to tell such a well-rounded story for one individual, and as a Latino man, to be able to tell such a positive story about a Latino male and a Latino family and what we bring to this community, I think that as shocking as it was, I understood it and I’m just proud that we got to tell the stories we did.

Did you have any conversations with the writers about shaping your exit arc?

Yeah, we talked about it a little bit. We had some conversations. I referenced some things that maybe some of them may have not considered or thought about because they just weren’t here at the very beginning, and so there’s just a lot of storyline that can get slipped under the rug and not remembered. I brought up a couple of ideas and they were always so receptive to the conversations. Victor [Teran] has been just a phenomenal showrunner. It’s a huge responsibility to take on, and for his first year to have to deal with something as big as the 300th episode of a network show is no small task. He has just been such an incredible leader and so open to conversations.

Going into Episode 300, how is Cruz doing physically, emotionally, psychologically?

I think the journey over the course of the first five episodes in general is so big. It was so meaty. They gave me such incredible material to work with. Cruz, at the end of the premiere, it doesn’t really seem like there’s going to be much of an opportunity for him to ever even get out of the chair. What they’ve built is sort of a real hero’s journey of the struggle of having to deal with that kind of trauma. There’s the physical aspect, absolutely, but I think one of the things that we were really talking about more importantly was there are mental and emotional strides, and it’s a new type of growth for Cruz that I didn’t think we’d see frankly.

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I have loved watching Cruz’s family grow. What will we see from them in Episode 300?

It’s crazy to see literally how the family has grown. There’s a lot of really great family moments, a lot of opportunities where we get to see that kind of joyous love between them.

51 responds to a hostage situation in Episode 300.

Just because I’m not coming back as Cruz doesn’t mean that Joe Miñoso’s not coming back. I’m going to be directing later on in the season, and that’s given me the opportunity and time to sit and shadow a lot of directors that have come through in the last couple of episodes [including that rescue]. It was just such a multi-layered rescue with insane stunts.

I think in general, what I can tell you specifically about Episode 5 is it’s all wrapped in the idea of family. It’s really kind of touching on points of individuals, families, Firehouse 51 as a whole, the Cruz family. And it is juicy as hell.

It makes sense that it’s about family because that’s what Chicago Fire is about — family. 51 is a family. We’ve seen that from the beginning. So what can you say about what we’ll see from 51 as a family unit and specifically when it comes to Cruz in Episode 300?

You’re going to get an opportunity to see what the firehouse has meant to Cruz in terms of his evolution as a man and as a father, and also what Cruz has meant to the firehouse and will mean. Honestly, in a lot of ways, it feels like we’re going back to the beginning a little bit in terms of expressing just how important this group is to each other and what they mean to one another.

Peter Gordon/NBC

Which member of 51 does Cruz have the most significant conversation with in the episode?

I mean, it would have to be Severide [Taylor Kinney], absolutely. There’s a very important scene between Severide and Cruz that was actually the very last scene that we shot for the episode, or at least for the Cruz character. And it was incredible. It was highly emotional. There were a lot of tears, and it was really wonderful to get to actually do that scene with Taylor because it was something that we don’t do often on our show. Cruz is always there, he’s always got Severide’s back, and that doesn’t change necessarily, but you just don’t get to see this specific kind of moment between those two characters, I think, ever on the show. So it was really, really quite special.

How has it been for you to say goodbye to the show and the character considering how big a part of your life it was?

I don’t think I have in a lot of ways. I still regularly see and talk to everybody on the show. I’ve been spending more time behind the scenes than ever before; in the last couple of months, I’ve actually gotten to know the crew so much more because I’ve had the opportunity to be with them on their side of the camera in a far more intimate way [preparing to direct]. I love the people I work with. I think we have one of the most remarkable crews in the world. They’re amazing and capable of anything and some of the hardest working people you’ll ever meet. And my cast is forever my family. I just watched the first episode with a bunch of people at one of our houses. We all got together for a watch party. I’ve been to weddings, I’ve been to funerals, I’ve been to christenings. I feel more so a part of this family than I do my own in a lot of ways. So I don’t think that I’ll ever say goodbye to the guy.

I’m looking forward to seeing the episode you direct.

Same, same. I couldn’t be more excited about that. For years now, I’ve been directing through my own production company. We’ve had about three or four consecutive years of directing award-winning shorts, and we have our biggest one that will be coming out next year called Long Lost, which I wrote and directed, and it just feels like sort of the next natural evolution of my work as an artist. I’m so excited that I get to live in that experience on the set of Chicago Fire. I couldn’t be luckier. That’s what I’m saying. The character has brought me a million opportunities, and even on his exit, he’s brought me one more, and so I owe him everything.

Chicago Fire, Wednesdays, 9/8c, CBS