Why did Jimmy Nicholas leave Chicago Fire, Chief Evan Hawkins?

Going into this weekend’s Chicago Fire episode, we knew we were missing a major recurring player in Jimmy Nicholas as Chief Evan Hawkins. The character died suddenly after the collapse in episode 3, which left Violet in a state of shock, one where she was left to question her future.

So why would the NBC drama do this, and take away someone who many viewers love? Well, the simple answer here is that it happens — the show kills off fan favorites. We’re still not over Shay or Otis, let alone Hawkins at this one. This situation is a little bit different in that in theory, the Chief never should have lasted this long. He was never meant to be a main character, and that is something Nicholas even points to in his Instagram post below. Originally, he came on for a three-episode arc that turned into so much more. Clearly, producers liked having him around and Hawkins / Violet became a popular pairing.

In the end, though, this exit seems to be story-driven more than anything else. We certainly don’t get the sense that Jimmy wanted to leave, but recurring characters rarely stick around that long. Losing Hawkins will throw Violet into disarray as she’d started to figure out what she wanted out of the future. Happy, stable relationships in One Chicago are rare and even when they happen, it tends to come after a lot of drama. (Take, for example, Severide and Kidd.)

If you loved watching Jimmy all season, we do have a feeling that we’re going to see more of him down the road on another project. We tend to think he’ll have little issue landing other work somewhere.

Related – Check out more news when it comes to Chicago Fire, including what will be coming next week

Are you still sad that Chief Evan Hawkins is dead on Chicago Fire?

Be sure to share right now in the attached comments! Once you do just that, remember to come back around for some other updates. (Photo: NBC.)

 

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