Chicago Fire season 6: Future hopes for Taylor Kinney’s Severide (character spotlight)

As we get closer to the Chicago Fire season 6 premiere, now seems to be the right time to state our hopes for Taylor Kinney’s Severide!

Let’s just start this discussion with the most basic of declarations: We just want to have hope for Kelly. Out of all of the characters within the franchise at this point, he’s been through arguably the most in between a history of addiction, a complicated relationship with his father, multiple near-death experiences, and then the arrest that happened during the crossover with Chicago PD last season.

Let’s actually use the Chicago PD story as a jumping-off point for what we want to see from Severide in the next year: A chance for him and Erin Lindsay to say goodbye. Sophia Bush’s return to the series for a farewell arc is still ambiguous — she’s been radio silent on the matter online, and the same goes for the rest of the cast and crew. What we can say for now is this: The two had a relationship, and while it didn’t work out, the two did learn a great deal from each other in the process. Not addressing that and giving that relationship closure would be incredibly disappointing. We don’t feel like the moments they had in the crossover should serve as their final ones.

In getting back to Chicago Fire proper, hopefully, Severide doesn’t just survive the fiery season 5 cliffhanger and forget about his relationship with Anna. Maybe she was meant to be his great love, his wife, and the mother of his children someday. It’s hard to speculate when she had such difficult circumstances the entirety of her relationship with him. Kelly shouldn’t dive into something else romantic, whether it be with Stella or anyone else, in the immediate future if he wants a relationship to be successful. He needs to focus on keeping himself together and keeping his eyes on the prize: His mental health. That’s tied so much to his addiction and the complicated relationships that he has.

What we’d really like to see for him in season 5 is building more healthy friendships at Firehouse 51, and get involved in the community even more in his time away from work. His family history is rough, so why not work on constructing his own extended family? Obviously, Severide is not a perfect person — he’s going to have flaws and make mistakes — but with the right support system, he can avoid some of the most catastrophic ones and allow himself to be a good person who is there for other people. That is probably what he learned the most from Anna: Empathy. He cared far more for someone else than himself; it’s strange to say that given that his job is saving people, but that wasn’t always reflected in his personal life.

Want some other Chicago Fire season 6 scoop?

If you love the NBC series, we have a feeling that you’re going to love some of the stories over at the link here. We recommend diving into them for all sorts of season 6 teases. (Photo: NBC.)