After operating with a skeleton crew in the prior episodes, it seems that Chicago Fire will be welcoming back several stars in episode 19!
It seems Firehouse 51 might actually be operating at full capacity for the first time in several weeks; at least that’s the impression newly released Chicago Fire photos give!
As fans will recall, Chicago Fire is currently on an extended streak of episodes in which multiple members of the cast have been MIA. It all began in episode 14 when the show randomly sidelined Violet, Vasquez, and Novak during an impactful episode that saw Chief Pascal’s time in the CFD come to an end.
The following episode, the trio returned only for all of Squad 3 to be sidelined with no Severide, Cruz, Capp, or Tony. That quartet would return in episode 16 for a Squad 3-centered episode, which would consequently sideline Kidd, Herrmann, Mouch, Violet, Vasquez, and Novak. We started to see a return to some normalcy in episode 17, though it was without Severide, Mouch, and Cruz, and then episode 18 came around and sidelined nearly all of the show’s series regulars with no appearance from Severide, Kidd, Herrmann, Cruz, Mouch, Tony, or Capp.
After a series of weeks in which we’ve been without a large number of main characters, it’s looking like Chicago Fire season 14, episode 19 might actually see the full team back in action – or at least most of the team!
NBC has released a handful of images from episode 19, “Exit Point,” which confirms the returns of several key characters who have been missing in the last few episodes of the show.
Up first, we have a still that reveals Squad 3 will be fully assembled in the episode with Cruz, Capp, and Tony all back in action. They’ll apparently be joined by Holt from Truck 68, who appears alongside Capp and Tony as Cruz oversees a drill at the firehouse.
Also back in episode 19 will be Herrmann and Mouch! After being sidelined for the last three episodes, Mouch will not only be back but will be getting a central storyline in the episode as he decides to pen a memoir about his life. He’ll also be kept busy while on the job as well, with a still from the episode showing Mouch alongside Severide in the smoke-filled parking lot of the building fire 51 responds to.
Speaking of Severide, he’ll also be back in action after missing the last few episodes and it’s looking like we’ll get to see Severide front and center in the episode. During the episode, he’ll be investigating the fire at the abandoned store where the fire begins, a building that had become home to several squatters.
He’s also going to head into battle, as the promo for the episode sees Severide confronting Hopkins about him putting him under review with Internal Affairs. Severide makes it clear that he’s going to fight this with everything he has, and we’d expect nothing less from him!
The promo also confirms that Kidd will also be back for the episode via a moment in which we hear her informing someone off-camera that Hopkins’ actions are retaliation. This is, of course, touching upon the established grudge Hopkins is holding over actions Benny took years ago.
Also back for the episode is Vasquez, who appeared in a supporting capacity in episode 18 and is featured in a solo shot from the episode — thus confirming he’ll be featured in the episode.
We also will see Lucy and Hopkins in the episode, which means we’re almost at a full house. The only two question marks for the episode are Violet and Novak, who might end up missing the episode after taking center stage in episode 18. It would make sense for the pair to be sidelined this week after the ordeal they went through in the prior episode, but we’ll have to wait until the episode drops to know for certain whether they simply were not included in the promo materials or are actually not featured in the episode.