Chicago Fire season 6 premiere: Who’s leaving? At least one person…

Is there some sadness coming during the Chicago Fire season 6 premiere on NBC Thursday night? We certainly would love to be all sunshine and tulips, but that’s not this show. In order to get to some of the joy you need to also get through some of the sorrow, and that is precisely what is coming during this episode. The premiere episode will feature the aftermath of the devastating cliffhanger, and just in case you needed a reminder that something devastating is coming — well, here we are.

Following our own pre-premiere interview at CarterMatt with showrunner Derek Haas, the writer-producer also noted to Entertainment Weekly that “there’s definitely a character not coming back, but I won’t say why.” The important distinction that needs to be made here is rather simple: Haas isn’t saying verbatim that who is “not coming back” is necessarily a character who has died. Instead, he is just noting that someone is leaving.

Does it have to be a series regular? Not necessarily, given that Mouch could be a candidate to leave even if he survives given the way that his story at the end of season 5 goes. Firefighting is a dangerous job and even though you may be prepared for it, that doesn’t necessarily mean that going through this sort of situation with the factory fire is something that you want to relive. You could find some alternative ways of leaving the show for just about any character.

If someone does leave, we just hope that there are some more opportunities for them to come back down the road provided that they want to do that.

Why depart in the first place?

Well, this is television! With that, it’s inevitable that you’re going to have some departures here and there. Also, it’s a firehouse! If there is a show that is going to have a rotating cast that makes sense, it’s this one given that people in real life would of course navigate in and out of a firehouse. Not everyone decides the job is right for them, some people transfer to other firehouses, and at the end of the day there are even some others who retire. This is the sort of job where there is just a consistent state of flux. The show is following the lead of firefighters in real life.

Now that we’ve said that of course we would love to see the entire Chicago Fire cast stick around for as long as humanly possible, even if we’re aware that a certain degree of this is a pipe dream. We do have to be realistic and think that there are probably going to be some more departures in some form or another.

What do you think is coming on the Chicago Fire season 6 premiere?

Let us know in the comments below! Meanwhile, be sure to visit the link here in the event you want updates on Chicago Fire and more at our CarterMatt Facebook page. (Photo: NBC.)