‘Chicago Fire’ season 3, episode 13 preview: The future for Taylor Kinney, cast (and the wait)

What is it with so many shows going off the air over the next few weeks? It is a rather complicated question, but one with a pretty simple answer in the end: They want to save most of the new episodes for February and sweeps.

We’ll start here, though, with what is the rocky confirmation in that there is no new “Chicago Fire” on NBC either next week, or the week after. There is a simple reason for the hiatus next week, and that is something as simple as the Presidential State of the Union Address. Nobody wants to compete against that as a major network; if NBC or someone else didn’t air it, they would also receive a hefty amount of criticism from government officials. That will take priority every year over anything else.

The silver lining here is that when the show does return in February, it will most likely run straight through the entire month with new episodes, much as it traditionally does. Not only that, but these may be some of the biggest, most ambitious stories we’ve seen yet. Given that much of tonight’s episode revolved around whether or not arson was a factor in Shay’s death, that is really saying something.

Our biggest hope is for a great story with Taylor Kinney. Severide had a heck of a terrible time dealing with life without Leslie in the early going this year, and it feels like now is really the perfect time for something new. We’ll have to wait for a little while to unfortunately have any further details.

What do you want to see on “Chicago Fire” when it returns? As always, share in the comments, and head over here for some further scoop, including a review for tonight’s episode! Also, you can sign up to get some further TV updates on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: NBC.)