Chicago Fire May Have Secretly Written Out 1 of Its Best Characters

Chicago Fire, now in its 13th season, is one of NBC’s most popular shows. The One Chicago franchise is also Wolf Entertainment’s strongest franchise when it comes to characters crossing from one show to another, and whether it’s a short appearance, like when Mouch (Christian Stolte) showed up on Chicago Med‘s Season 10, Episode 15, “Down in a Hole,” or a full three-show crossover — the most recent one was Episode 11 of each show’s current season, named “In the Trenches: Part I, Part II, and Part III” — the franchise proves it is leaps and bounds above Wolf Entertainment’s other franchises on this aspect time and time again.

Despite all of Chicago Fire‘s strong characters and storylines, it is also no stranger to cast turnover. It seems like every season, someone new is starting or someone important is leaving, and Season 13 has been no exception. At the end of Chicago Fire‘s Season 13, Episode 16, “In the Rubble,” Chief Dom Pascal (Dermot Mulroney) filled a space at Firehouse 51 that had been open for a long time. It may have taken a little persuading from Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney), but either way, the episode ended with Pascal hiring Jack Damon (Michael Bradway), Severide’s half-brother, to fill an open spot on the Engine. While fans of Damon are excited to see him back at 51, his full-time position means that fan-favorite Kylie Estevez might never be seen again.

Who is Kylie Estevez?

The Young Firefighter Got Her Start with Stella Kidd

In Season 8 of Chicago Fire, Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) started Girls on Fire, a program she designed to recruit more women to the Chicago Fire Department. While trying to recruit for the program in Season 8, Episode 18, “I’ll Cover You,” Stella met Kylie Estevez (Katelynn Shennett), a high school student who wasn’t just interested in the program, she was so sold on it by Kidd that she brought friends with her to the first class, and quickly became one of Kidd’s star students. After she stopped showing up to classes in Season 8, Episode 20, “51’s Original Bell,” Stella found out where she worked and tried to talk to her about coming back to class, only to learn that Kylie needed to take on a job to help support her family. In Season 9, Episode 2, “That Kind of Heat,” after Chief Boden was obviously struggling to handle administrative duties during the pandemic, Stella suggested they bring Kylie on so that she could help fill the gap and continue to participate in Girls on Fire at the same time. From that point on, Kylie became a member of the Firehouse 51 family.

Kylie remained at the Firehouse as she finished high school, and through studying to take the firefighter’s exam. She built a close friendship with Darren Ritter (Daniel Kyri), and the entire firehouse was there to support her as she prepared for her exam. Though Kidd wanted Kylie to join Firehouse 51 as a probie, Kylie decided that she wanted a different experience and joined another firehouse, but took on several opportunities to float to Firehouse 51. At the beginning of Season 13, when Jack Damon initially leaves Firehouse 51 after a tough time working with both Kidd and Severide, Kidd tries to recruit Kylie to fill his position. Worried about living under the shadow of Lieutenant Kidd for her whole career, Kylie turns the position down, at least until Kidd and Christopher Herrmann (David Eigenberg) offer her an alternative — to take a spot on the Engine, under Herrmann, while Ritter moves to the Truck. Kylie accepted the offer, and while it seemed like audiences might finally get to see Kylie at 51 again, she’s only been in three episodes in Season 13, and now her spot, which many fans didn’t realize was open, has been filled by Jack Damon.

Jack Damon Had a Rough Start in the CFD

Severide’s Half-Brother Came with a Chip on His Shoulder

When Jack Damon first arrived at Firehouse 51 in Season 12, Episode 10, “The Wrong Guy,” many viewers could immediately tell there was something he was hiding. Damon seemed to have something from his past that he was dealing with, just like Sam Carver (Jake Lockett), who was often dealing with his own past. That only became more apparent when Darren Ritter discovered Damon taking a suspicious phone call. He also seemed obsessed with Kelly Severide, and though it could maybe be seen as wanting to learn from one of CFD’s greats, it rubbed several of 51’s other firefighters the wrong way. It wasn’t until Season 12, Episode 13, “Never Say Goodbye,” that Severide and the audience learned who Damon really was — the half-brother Kelly never knew he had.

When Chicago Fire returned for Season 13, the time jump allowed the show to bypass some of the awkwardness of Severide and Damon getting to know each other as brothers, but that doesn’t mean things were smooth sailing. Damon struggled to understand how to build his own legacy, rather than sitting in the shadows of Kelly and their father, Benny (played by the late Treat Williams in previous seasons), and had trouble finding his place at 51. After clashing with Stella Kidd one too many times — and trying to run to Severide for interference since Kidd and Severide are married — new Battalion Chief Dom Pascal and Kidd decided to send Damon to a different house. The transition was tough on both Damon and Severide, but turned out to be exactly what Damon needed. When Damon ended up back in the floater pool after a run-in with a firefighter who left him behind in a fire and then lied about it, both Severide and Kidd went to bat for Damon, ultimately convincing Pascal to bring him back to 51.

Kylie Isn’t Chicago Fire’s Only Loss in Season 13

Newly Announced Cast Departures Throw Fans for a Loop

Beyond her relationship with Stella Kidd, part of what made the character of Kylie so important was simply that she was a female firefighter. There have only been a few female firefighters on the show — Gabriela Dawson (Monica Raymund), Lieutenant Wendy Seager (Andy Allo), and Rebecca Jones (Daisy Betts) are the three other female firefighters that have been in previous seasons of Chicago Fire — so Kylie and the rest of the Girls on Fire members made a big impact. Losing Kylie helps the show continue to reinforce the idea that firefighting is a job primarily done by one gender, and it takes an important relationship away from Kidd. One of Stella Kidd’s core components is that she’s an advocate for seeing more women in the workplace and prides herself on being a mentor to young women wanting to become firefighters. As Kidd continues to move forward in her career, it will be interesting to see what kind of role the loss of Kylie plays, if any.

Unfortunately for fans, Chicago Fire isn’t done with changes. As of Season 13, Episode 18, “Post Mortem,” which aired Wednesday, April 16, Damon will be in recovery for a while thanks to the injuries he sustained in the house fire during the episode, and in a recently announced upset, both Jake Lockett, who plays Sam Carver, and Daniel Kyri, who plays Darren Ritter, will be leaving the show at the end of the season. Daniel Kyri’s departure is particularly disappointing given the departure of Eamonn Walker’s Wallace Boden at the end of Season 12, as Kyri was the only remaining Black firefighter — or character — on the show. While it’s not unusual for One Chicago shows to see turnover, the loss of Kylie, along with Ritter and Carver, has a lot of fans wondering what NBC and Wolf Entertainment are doing. With the season wrapping up soon, audiences won’t know how these changes impact the show before the summer.