Chicago Fire is officially back in the 2024 TV schedule, but the Season 13 premiere wasn’t just back to business as usual for the firefighters and paramedics of Firehouse 51. On top of last season’s finale bombshell reveal that Damon is Severide’s half brother and Kidd dealing with Severide’s suggestion that they start a family, Dermot Mulroney debuted as new Firehouse 51 Chief Dom Pascal, recently returned from Miami to start running 51 differently. Following the finale, showrunner Andrea Newman’s comments about reactions to Pascal hit a little harder.
When I spoke with Andrea Newman ahead of Season 13, Dermot Mulroney’s casting had been announced but there was still no saying how the firefighters who had worked with Boden for so long would react to him. When asked who at 51 would be most affected by Boden’s absence in the new season, the showrunner previewed:
That is a great question, and I don’t want to give too much away, because what was really fun about having Boden leave, and then this big shadow hanging over the firehouse of his absence, and then bringing someone new in, and how that affects everybody, there’s some twists and turns to that. There are people that are okay with it that are surprising, and then there are people who have a real problem with it that are a little surprising. But I think it’s hard for everybody in different ways, and everybody will have, because of that, different relationships with this new chief.
At the time of the interview, I assumed that we could count on at least Herrmann’s reaction to Dom Pascal. After all, Boden specifically told Herrmann that he wanted him to take over as chief of 51, and the Engine lieutenant seemed more than willing to put in the work at the time. Surely he would be the one who would chafe the most at somebody else sitting in the chief’s chair, right?
But the biggest surprise reaction for me was actually Mouch, who didn’t really appear to have a genuine issue with Pascal until he saw Herrmann’s reaction. Herrmann seemed impressed enough by the new chief to willingly stay as Engine lieutenant and not reach for the role that Boden had wanted for him. This poses a problem for Mouch and his goal of becoming a lieutenant and taking Herrmann’s slot so he wouldn’t have to leave 51. While I didn’t see it coming at all from Mouch, it made sense.
Andrea Newman went on to share what exactly the Chicago Fire team was looking for in an actor to play Dom Pascal, saying:
