Chicago Fire interview: EP on season 12, Casey return, & changes!

As you prepare for the Chicago Fire season 12 premiere on NBC next Wednesday, let’s just say this: Brace yourselves for a lot! You’ve got a time jump, multiple cliffhangers, returning characters, and of course some nail-biters. That’s without even getting into a new arrival coming soon played by Rome Flynn and a season that could still have some surprises!

So what better way to kick things off than hearing from showrunner Andrea Newman? We spoke with her this week in order to get a far better sense of where the story is going.

Matt & Jess – When the writers’ room first opened, did you even no how many episodes you were going to be doing?

Andrea Newman – No, we didn’t. We just hit the ground running, knowing where we wanted to go but not knowing anything else (laughs).

Did you have a plan A, a plan B, or certain stories that may need to be cut depending on [the episode count]?

What we tend to do is that at the end of a season, we’ll do some general talk about what we’re building to. We tend to know what our next few steps are after the finale, but things change, shake-ups happen, eight months goes by … Anything could happen at that point.

There were multiple cliffhangers last season and yet, this franchise typically keeps things close to present-day. Is there any sort of time jump?

There’s such a connection between the show and the viewers and vice-versa, and it felt important for there to be a time jump. It has been so much time, and we wanted it to feel like [the characters and the viewers] were all in it together. We are doing a six-month time jump — all Chicago shows across the board are doing that.

Honestly, I generally would think that would be brutal, but it worked well with these stories. We were actually glad for that time jump.

So, is this a situation where within the premiere, we’re going to have answers on a lot of different stories? For example, we have Brett and Casey and the proposal, plus then what’s happened with Mouch.

I think the time jump necessitates that the premiere will bring answers and it will. There are some answers that need exploring and delving into, and some will just be apparent from the jump.

So we have those things and then, we have Severide’s return. What’s going on with him and Stella during the premiere?

I think within like five seconds of the premiere you’ll see that they’re together and they can’t keep their hands off each other. But there’s also a new dynamic that you’ve never seen between them before that is pretty quick, too. It’s like ‘what’s going on with these two? Something’s going on here…’ At one point, there’s a Violet line where she is like ‘they are like two big cats circling each other’ (laughs).

The arson case within the premiere will bring up a lot of the stuff they’ve been burying … She had to go and drag him back from this arson investigation, and she looks at arson as his addiction. When he gets caught up in it, he loses himself for various reasons. One of them is that it’s in his blood, as his dad was an arson investigator. It is a wedge between them, and it all comes to the fore when there’s an arson case that he can’t say no to in the premiere. They have to face that together.

I know that Alberto [Rosende] is leaving the show fairly early on. What can you say about Gallo’s exit?

We love that character and Gallo had a hell of a season last season. [His exit] is sort of like after a Super Bowl win when the quarterback retires. There’s a lot about the character leaving in the premiere that is very organic — his reasons are very true to Gallo. It’s going to shake up the house, and it is a big hit particularly to Violet and Ritter, who are his best friends.

Is Carver still going to be sticking around?

He is. He and Violet have a playful and fun dynamic that springs up early on this season.

Carver is so interesting given that when he first arrived, I didn’t want to trust him, just because I’ve been so jaded by a lot of people who have turned up over the years and turned out to be [antagonistic]. Yet, I like that we’ve really had this opportunity to unpeel a lot of layers to who he is.

It’s good that you say that, because that is a real part of this season. We have this new character coming in, Gibson (Flynn), in episode 2. He’s this electric, heroic, but sort of dark character and dark guy. Carver, of all people, ends up kind of tapping into that. He remembers being the new guy and how he felt starting. It takes a certain kind to fit in at 51 and he wasn’t that kind at first.

Is he that kind completely now? Not exactly, but I think that’s what is fun about 51 — people do end up fitting in and staying there [that] you don’t naturally expect.

With the schedules being so tight this time around, has that thrown crossovers out the window?

You know, it’s funny — when we started, it was all so crazy and we weren’t really talking about that. Now that we’re kind of midseason and we have an opportunity to come up for air, that’s become a topic of conversation. It’s always on the table — crossovers, both big and small.

Finally, are we going to see Casey again?

I’ll say this. The premiere will find Brett with a lot of plans in place, but things will not go the way that she has them planned, of course — that’s life! We will see our beloved Matt Casey for sure [at some point this season].

What are you personally most excited to see moving into the Chicago Fire season 12 premiere?

Share right now in the comments! After you do just that, come back — there are some other updates on the way.