Yuriy Sardarov on Emotional ‘Chicago Fire’ Exit: “We Are All Linked Eternally to One Another”

Since 2012, Michael Brandt and Derek Haas’ firefighter procedural, Chicago Fire, has proven that primetime television isn’t a cultural darling of the past. As part of the One Chicago franchise, the series showcases the lives of the brave first responders of the Chicago Fire Department’s Firehouse 51. Many faces have come and gone over the course of 13 seasons, Eamonn Walker as Wallace Boden and Yuriy Sardarov as Brian “Otis” Zvoncek being two heartbreaking departures for the hit NBC procedural.

Walker left as a series regular, occasionally popping in to reprise his beloved role as Chief Boden, whose shoes were filled by Dermott Mulroney’s Chief Dom Pascal. In contrast, Sardarov was written out of the show permanently, his character dying during the shocking Season 8 premiere after fighting wounds from the Season 7 finale’s mattress factory fire plotline. “Thank you for the greatest 7 years of my life… #ChicagoFireForever,” Sardarov captioned a Sept. 26, 2019, Instagram post featuring a poem about his character, Otis.

During a conversation with MovieWeb about his work in the indie sci-fi comedy Daddy, Yuriy Sardarov was candid about his decision to leave the show and learning of Otis’ tragic fate.

“I’d known Derek and Michael before this, before Chicago Fire, and they actually offered me the role. So seven seasons in, I was like, ‘You know, Derek, I think, I think I’m done. I think I’d like to move on to something new.’ And we had a talk about it, and then — I didn’t expect to be killed, that’s for sure! … [Derek] called me and was like, ‘This is what’s going to happen.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, man, that’s brutal.’ And then when I read it, I was like, ‘That’s a good death. It’s a heroic death.”

Yuriy Sardarov Discusses the Lasting Impact of Leaving His ‘Chicago Fire’ Family

During the interview, Sardarov got emotional over his 2019 departure from Chicago Fire. “It hits you in ways that you don’t expect,” he said. “You grow to love all of these people.”

His connection to his former castmates seemingly goes beyond a “work besties” relationship. “[Joe] Miñoso is, I mean, he’s really my brother,” Sardarov said. Additionally, a bonding experience during the COVID-19 pandemic brought him even closer to his Chicago Fire fam.

“I live where I live in L.A. because Monica Raymund, who played Dawson, let us stay at her house during COVID. We fell in love with the community. We are all linked eternally to one another. The hardest part has been not seeing my friends every day; I’m getting emotional just thinking about it. I love them so much, and I’m so happy that the show is continuing on. I just miss them.”