Chicago Fire interview: EP on Brett, Casey’s future, Severide’s dilemma

Chicago Fire season 9 episode 3 has now wrapped on NBC, but is that it for Casey and Brett talking about their future? Based on what we saw tonight, Sylvie seems to be intent on trying to move forward — and in a lot of ways, we understand. She wants to be with someone who is beyond a doubt hers, and there are certainly still concerns about Matt’s feelings for Dawson. (We imagine that all of this is made all the more apparent to Brett by the fact that she saw Dawson and Casey together for so long.)

Yet, there is no guarantee that this storyline is done forever — that’s at least one of our takeaways from part 2 of our interview with showrunner Derek Haas. We also talk more about what we saw with Severide and Kidd, the friendship building between Brett and Mackey, and also a tease for a big Joe Cruz story coming soon.

CarterMatt – Severide knows now that there’s some pushback towards the idea of Stella being promoted, but he’s hanging back and not really talking to her about it. Is this going to present a problem?

Derek Haas – In Severide’s mind, he’s doing the right thing. He hears that there’s some scuttlebutt from higher-ups suggesting that she’s getting preferential treatment because she’s dating him, and he’s close to the commissioner. He knows that she merits this on her own and can do it. He just doesn’t want any perception out there to take away from what she could achieve.

Severide has always been a man of few words and not the greatest communicator — he thinks ‘I’m going to step back and let her do this on her own, and show the world that she doesn’t need somebody else pulling strings.’ When he does that, that’s probably not the best way to treat Stella Kidd, who has seen him go through ups and downs in the past.

Of course there’s trouble ahead, based on what happens in episode 3.

I always love to see how episode titles factor their way into the story, and such was the case here with ‘Smash Therapy’ and the drone. I think we’ve all probably wanted to do that at times over the last ten months. It was a fun moment for Brett and Mackey, but do you think this also brings them closer together?

Yeah. We wanted them to have a different relationship than Brett and Foster had, which was peers. We wanted Mackey and Brett to have a mentee / mentor relationship. What we like in the evolution of that relationship was Mackey having a sense that something’s off with Brett. That scene was a perfect culmination of Mackey being able to realize what somebody else needs and handing it off. I always loved that scene in Office Space where they smash that copier to bits. It’s a little bit of a nod to that.

Brett seems to be settled on the notion that nothing else can happen with Casey. Is something more coming now, or is this story somewhat on the back-burner?

Well, I think it’s a pretty unsatisfactory resolution for the both of them after this episode. There will be more ups and downs along the way. We’re Chicago Fire (laughs). There are going to be some characters coming in during the next episode who will throw more wrenches at people who want Casey and Brett to get together.

Finally, as one of the biggest Joe Cruz fans out there, I have to ask what’s next for him…

There’s an awesome episode coming up in episode 5. It’s really a showcase for Cruz and Herrmann, and it’s a different episode than we’ve ever done before. It’s almost like a play. Both [David] Eigenberg and Joe [Minoso] are no stranger to theater and we did one take in that episode that is a 22-minute take. A typical take for us is around three minutes. It was really fun to watch. they both show off their acting skill in fresh ways.

What do you think is going to happen next for Brett and Casey on Chicago Fire?

Be sure to let us know right now in the comments! Also, remember to stick around to make sure you don’t miss any other updates.