There’s no more endearing firefighter on Chicago Fire than Darren Ritter (played by Daniel Kyri), who joined Firehouse 51 in 2018 (first recurring then as a regular) after being cut from another house for freezing on a call.
Despite that blemish, Mouch (Christian Stolte) and Lt. Herrmann (David Eigenberg) backed the new candidate, and he won a candidate position at the house. Quietly but openly gay, Ritter became part of the house’s “Three Musketeers,” best friends with Gallo (Alberto Rosende) and EMT Violet (Hanako Greensmith) until Gallo left the CFD in this season’s premiere. Always kind and helpful, Ritter has grown and prospered.
Below, Kyri talks about May 8 episode, in which he doesn’t just fight a conflagration but faces the revelation of his current boyfriend to his team, and shares his new modeling experience.
Before we get into Chicago Fire, I just saw you looking glamorous in a white suit among other outfits, in an Out Magazine fashion spread. Was that your first modeling experience?
Daniel Kyri: It actually was! They reached out and said they wanted me for that spread and I got so excited! I got there, and they had the whole wardrobe pulled out. It was the first time I had seen a closet like that and I got to pick the outfits, including the white. Maybe they liked my taste a little bit. [Laughs]
You were doing a lot of theater in Chicago, your hometown, and then you got the Chicago Fire gig. Did you think you would only get a couple of episodes?
When I got the audition, they let me know that the role “could be recurring,” which I think basically means it’s based on how you do. There definitely was a chance that my character could be wrapped up in one episode, or two or three, max. I think my chemistry with Christian Stolte, who plays Mouch, really helped out. They saw an opportunity for a story for Mouch and my character, and they kept me around for the rest of that season. After that, they kept inviting me back.
Is Fire your first TV show?
I did a co-star part on Chicago Med earlier that same year, so that technically was my very first television spot. But in terms of anything with longevity, I still count Chicago Fire as my first.
Adrian S. Burrows Sr./NBC
Fans loved The Three Musketeers relationship. Was that fun for you? Do you miss Alberto, who played Blake Gallo?
Yeah, I miss him a lot. I’ve seen Alberto a couple of times, and I’m looking forward to spending some time with him and his fiancée potentially in LA this summer. Sometimes Hanako and I reminisce about a moment when we have a scene that typically we might have done with Alberto. Those scenes were super fun. A lot of my scene work is with actors who are significantly older than I am, so when we got to do stuff together, it just felt fun and like we were all looking through a similar lens or point of view, so we would always find the commonalities between us.
If Ritter said something to Mouch about working with old folks, that would be an amusing conversation.
[Laughs] From your mouth to God’s ears, it might happen.
Is Ritter the first out gay firefighter in the company?
I’m the first one—definitely the first one to stick around. There was a little bit of history-making involved with the decision to have my character come out.
There was really no pushback when his colleagues found out.
All those characters are so unique and so special, and I think their capacity for compassion, empathy and tolerance, is really unique and special. The decision for Ritter’s coming out to be a little bit of a non-event was definitely the right one. In terms of the kinds of stories we see with LGBTQ characters, I think some of the negative pushback stuff can get to be overdone or overwrought. To just have this character say, “I’m gay,” and have everyone be like, “Cool,” was its own little revolution. As a queer actor, I actually really appreciated the way that they handled it. I think queer people feel like they have to come out all the time, and this is a way to say, “No, you don’t. You can just be who you are.” They really led by example with that.
Did the producers and writers know that you were gay from the start, hence your storyline?
No. They didn’t really know much about me when I first came on. I kept it that way, not intentionally, but mostly because it was one of my first experiences on set. I was keeping my head down a lot and really focusing on the work, and I was shy. But as they kept me around, I was able to open up a bit more and have conversations with other cast members who were curious about, “Who’s this guy? Where’s he from? What’s his deal?” I remember the first year I was on the show, there was a big holiday party, and it was all three of the shows—Med, PD and Fire. That was the event where I really got to meet some writers and producers. I had brought my partner at the time with me, and of course, I said, “Yeah, this is me, and this is my boyfriend.” From there, I think they got to know me and who I am and started to take some cues from me for the character. It was a bit of life imitating art imitating life.
Ritter may not want “to come out” about his new boyfriend in this week’s episode. Can you set up the story?
Episode 11 starts out with a real shock for everyone in the firehouse and a mystery starts to unfold. One of the rigs goes missing from the house; at the same time no one can find Lt. Severide [Taylor Kinney]. The only clue to his disappearance is Severide’s cell phone, which was left behind on a table, which is completely out of character, and everyone at 51 springs into action. It’s a thriller, a mystery with a lot of high stakes.
How does Severide’s wife, Lt. Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo), handle the situation?
Even though she’s going through a lot, Stella Kidd is such a badass. You’ll see a lot of support from her 51 family as everyone bands together to find Severide. With Kidd as their leader to make it happens, it makes for really exciting television.
How does Ritter’s secret boyfriend come into play?
His name is Officer Dwayne Monroe [Samuel B. Jackson], and he gets embroiled in this mystery when he’s called in to investigate what happened at Firehouse 51 and help the team track down the missing truck and Severide. It’s a cool moment of worlds colliding for Ritter. It’s common knowledge that among first responders, there’s a bit of sibling rivalry between the CPD and the CFD. [Laughs] By nature of that rivalry, they try to keep their relationship under wraps. There’s a little bit of self-contained and thrilling chaos for Ritter in those moments. There’s some fun to be had.
Is there a criminal element involved in the disappearances of Severide and the rig?
I’ll hint at the fact that we do see Severide in some very high stakes situations because as the viewers, we don’t lose track of him in this story. Whatever the scenario is with the missing truck and him being away from the firehouse, we get to see him try to make his way back home, and things get dangerous!
Your bestie Violet tends to know everything about you. Did you hide your cop beau from her too?
Ritter and Violet and both experiencing relationships where they’re moving in a more self-protective way. Violet, because she’s been through so much, relationship-wise—she lost her lover Evan Hawkins to a conflagration in Season 11—and Ritter because of that CPD element. We get to see them try to keep things from each other and they become sleuths in each other’s love lives in a way that’s really indicative of the closeness they have.
