The new season of Chicago Fire is about change, both on and off-screen. Andrea Newman—who’s been with the NBC series so long that she wrote its fourth episode—has taken over as sole showrunner after the departure of Derek Haas. And thanks to the Season 12 premiere, One Chicago fans know that one member of Firehouse 51 has already left while another will be leaving in the coming months.
In this interview, Newman spoke about what it’s like to be carrying on Chicago Fire without either of the show’s creators, reflected on the cast departures and dropped some details about the fresh face who’ll be joining the show in the Jan. 24 episode.
SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers for Chicago Fire Season 12, Episode 1, “Barely Gone,” which premiered Wednesday, Jan. 17 on NBC.
“Oh my gosh, do we miss Derek!” exclaimed Newman, when asked about taking over showrunning duties after Haas left the series at the end of Season 11. That would seem to be a daunting task, but Newman previously served as co-showrunner with Haas and penned her first episode of Chicago Fire back in 2012. “I really do talk to Derek every day,” she continued. “He’s still such a part of the show. He loves the show, he [co-]created the show, and we just text and talk all the time.
“It’s actually been pretty cool, being the female showrunner on such a big action show with strong female characters. I love being able to dig into like, the badassery of [Stella] Kidd. I feel very lucky having the stories; it’s not a soap opera. It’s filled with a lot of big action. And it’s cool to be at the helm of it all.”
FROM CHICAGO FIRE SEASON 11 TO SEASON 12
Her tenure kicked off in a very efficient way, as the pre-credits sequence in the Season 12 premiere resolved multiple unanswered questions in roughly a five-minute span. Viewers learned very quickly whether or not Mouch (Christian Stolte) had survived, whether Sylvie Brett (Kara Killmer) had gotten engaged and where Blake Gallo (Alberto Rosende) was going to. Putting all that information right at the top of the show was a structural choice, due to the six-month time jump that was also implemented on Chicago Med and Chicago P.D.
“You want to start the season off like a shot out of a cannon,” Newman said. “You want to keep it exciting, and fast-paced, and moving… so you want to do the resolutions of the cliffhangers and let everybody know where everybody stands, and also not have anyone [watching] feel like they’ve been lost and left behind. The goal, and hopefully we accomplished that, is to make sure that nobody missed anything really important. That the Severide-Kidd conflict comes to the fore in this [first] episode—even though they’ve kind of been simmering for the last six months, the audience gets to see it and be a part of it.”
While Taylor Kinney’s return as Kelly Severide got the lion’s share of attention (it was even a focal point in NBC’s advertising), the Season 12 opener was a solid outing for many of the original Chicago Fire cast members, including Kinney, David Eigenberg and Eamonn Walker.
“I think it worked out that way because of the nature of the stories,” Newman reflected. “The first episode was really about the [Firehouse] 51 family. Boden has a lot to say at the end of the episode [about] the fact that once you’ve been a part of 51, you’ll always be a part of 51, and the tightness of that unit.”
GALLO’S GOODBYE AND BRETT’S FINAL SEASON
In “Barely Gone,” Firehouse 51 (and the audience) said farewell to Gallo, who moved away from Chicago to reunite with family. In reality, actor Alberto Rosende chose to leave Chicago Fire after five seasons—but returned for one final scene so that Gallo could get a touching goodbye with his closest friends. According to Newman, that scene was emotional for the cast, too.
“Alberto and Gallo meant so much to the show, and vice versa,” she explained. “He was game from the start to be a part of his goodbye. We felt it was really important for all of our people to get to say goodbye, but especially Violet and Ritter; that was quite the trio, and they are so connected. We wanted to give them their moment. And in real life as actors, they’re all very close. It was an emotional day on the set. There were a lot of real tears.”
One Chicago fans also know that Chicago Fire Season 12 will be the last for Brett as Kara Killmer’s departure was confirmed before the premiere aired. However, her exit won’t happen until later in the season, as Brett still has a few more exciting shifts on Ambulance 61 ahead of her in addition to her impending nuptuals. “We have [Kara] for a chunk of episodes,” Newman said. “But in terms of the character… [Brett] kind of throws herself into the job in a way that we have never seen before. She has a lot of really, really big action this season. She is fully committed, and she takes some big risks—maybe too big.”
WHO’S COMING TO FIREHOUSE 51?
With so much attention devoted to Brett’s romantic relationship with Casey over the last few seasons, some audience members have wondered if her final season might include some professional recognition, given her long tenure as Paramedic in Charge and the paramedicine program that she worked so tirelessly on. But that might not feel as true to the series, according to its showrunner.
“We have in the past done commendation medals and acknowledgements,” Newman said. “But there’s something very true to the fact that first responders don’t always get the recognition they deserve… That’s something we play into. In the past, Herrmann and Mouch have always complained about not getting those things, but when they do, it’s incredibly meaningful. There was the episode where they left their shopping cart behind during a call and the [grocery store] customers all chipped in… Those little things mean the world to the firefighters. They don’t care so much about commendations. It’s how people they’re helping respond that means the most.”
Another part of keeping Chicago Fire moving is that when characters leave, new ones are quickly added to fill the void. Season 12, Episode 2, “Call Me McHolland” will be the debut episode for Daytime Emmy Award-winning actor Rome Flynn (With Love, How to Get Away with Murder). While Newman didn’t reveal specifics about Flynn’s role, she did say how excited she is for him to join the One Chicago universe.
“That character, I was watching a cut with him in it… I’m literally yelling at the screen,” she laughed. “He’s exciting and there’s lots to play with, with that character. But I’m also really excited about Severide and Kidd and seeing them back together again, getting to write them together and see this new journey they’re on. There’s all this tension between them, this new dynamic, because of Severide screwing up. So that’s been really fun to write also, just to have Stellaride back.”
Chicago Fire airs Wednesdays at 9:00 p.m. on NBC.
I think Andrea Newman has been with the show so long, and writing, that she doesn’t even realize she just isn’t that good at it anymore.
She and her writing partner Michael Gilvary have done some of the biggest episodes over the last few seasons (including both the season premiere and season finale in Season 10 and Season 11), so it’s interesting that you’d say that. Are there particular episodes/aspects of her work that you dislike, or just the direction the show’s been pointed in over the last few years?