Since 2012, Chicago Fire has led the One Chicago franchise, serving as both the initial series in the franchise and as the launching point for both Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med. Headlined by Jesse Spencer and Taylor Kinney, Chicago Fire has brought together numerous seasoned and rookie performers to make a show that feels authentic and full of heart. The show is one of Wolf Entertainment’s most successful and elevates the whole One Chicago franchise.
The firefighters and paramedics of Firehouse 51 are a family, which means they are there for each other just as much as they are at each other’s throats. The dynamic of the characters on Chicago Fire, whether audiences are watching the first season or the eleventh, can make viewers feel like they’re on the scene of a terrible accident or dangerous fire with the team, saving lives right alongside them. The 12th season of Chicago Fire will return to NBC on Wednesday, January 17, along with the rest of the franchise. With several cliffhangers in the Season 11 finale, the upcoming season premiere is likely to be exciting for fans everywhere.
Deputy District Chief Wallace Boden Is a Caring Leader
Eamonn Walker
Eamonn Walker, like a number of other actors on Wolf Entertainment shows, had a long-time role on HBO’s Oz as inmate Kareem Saïd, a performance for which he won the CableACE Award for Actor in a Dramatic Special or Series in 1997.
Wallace Boden began Chicago Fire as the Battalion Chief overseeing the firefighters and paramedics at Firehouse 51. Boden prides himself on how he cares for his firefighters and paramedics, as well as how he makes decisions that keep them safe and works with leaders like Hank Voight from Chicago P.D. and Sharon Goodwin from Chicago Med during One Chicago crossover episodes.
Lieutenant Kelly Severide Is Charming and Confident
Taylor Kinney
Though Chicago Fire is the show for which Taylor Kinney is best known, viewers might recognize him as the former fiancé of Lady Gaga. They met while filming her music video for “You and I” in 2011 but ended their engagement in July 2016.
Lieutenant Kelly Severide is the officer in charge of Squad 3, the rescue squad housed at Firehouse 51. Severide has a “ladies man” reputation for the first few seasons, but in Season 5, he meets Anna Turner. Severide is a bone marrow match for Anna and then falls in love with her, only to lose her to complications from her leukemia in Season 5, Episode 20, “Carry Me.”
- Eigenberg is best known for his long-time role as Steve Brady on HBO’s Sex and the City and And Just Like That…, and then there’s that movie he starred in with Taylor Kinney.
Christopher Herrmann, a senior firefighter who becomes the Lieutenant of Engine 51 in Season 7, Episode 3, “Thirty Percent Sleight of Hand,” is the heart of Firehouse 51. He and his wife, Cindy, have five children, and their youngest, Kenny, was born in Season 1, Episode 24, “A Hell of a Ride.”
Herrmann prides himself on being an entrepreneur, and though many of his schemes are failures, he opens Molly’s with Dawson and Otis in Season 1, Episode 23, “Let Her Go,” and the bar has become a hangout for the team from Firehouse 51, as well as characters from Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med. Herrmann is a mentor for many of the other firefighters, often challenging them to be better at their jobs and in their personal lives.
Lieutenant Stella Kidd Is Destined for Greatness
Miranda Rae Mayo
Stella Kidd joins Firehouse 51 in Season 4, Episode 15, “Bad For the Soul,” when her firehouse closes, and she is transferred to 51. Kidd helps manage Molly’s, which means she’s close to Herrmann and has a fun sibling rivalry with Otis. Kidd has made serious gains in her career since Season 8, when she worked with Lieutenant Wendy Seager (Andy Allo) to start “Girls on Fire,” a program designed to get more young women into firefighting.
After some mentoring from Boden, Kidd takes and passes the lieutenant’s exam in Season 9, Episode 14, “What Comes Next,” and is made the lieutenant of Truck 81 after Casey’s departure in Season 10. At the end of Season 11, Kidd took a furlough to bring Severide, her husband, back to Chicago.
Randall “Mouch” McHolland’s Fate Is Up in the Air
Christian Stolte
Randall “Mouch” McHolland is one of the senior firefighters at Firehouse 51, and his nickname, “Mouch,” is a mash-up of “man” and “couch” and comes from his habit of consistently sitting on the couch to watch television between calls. Mouch is the union rep for the firefighters and paramedics at 51 and will occasionally find himself being the “legal advisor” for other members of the team. Mouch and Herrmann are best friends and spend a lot of their time together both on and off shift, and in Season 4, Episode 18, “On the Warpath,” he marries Sergeant Trudy Platt (Amy Morton), who is a regular on Chicago P.D.
In the Season 11 finale, Season 11, Episode 22, “Red Waterfall,” Mouch was shot when Firehouse 51 was on the scene of a sniper incident, and though he seems fine initially, in some of the final moments of the season, he starts to bleed out. His fate will be one of the questions Chicago Fire needs to answer when the new season returns.
