Chicago Fire star Daniel Kyri has reflected on the response to his LGBTQ+ character Darren Ritter.
The actor has played firefighter Darren since season seven of the NBC show and was promoted to a series regular for the ninth season.
Darren is openly gay, and in an interview with Out, Kyri has opened up about the positive viewer response to his character.
miranda rae mayo as stella kidd, daniel kyri as darren ritter, chicago fire season 11
He said: “The response has been: ‘It’s a breath of fresh air. I’m so glad to see your character on a show like this, a character who is a hero, being represented in the full breadth of his humanity.’”
Kyri also recalled an interaction with a fan after Darren came out on the show – with the firefighter telling Lieutenant Christopher Herrmann that he has a boyfriend, not a girlfriend.
He explained: “This guy came up to me and he was like, ‘Hey, I just want you to know that we’ve always been here.’ Meaning like him as a firefighter. And it wasn’t anything so grandiose as like a ‘thank you’ or anything, but it was a real moment of, I feel seen, and I see you. And whenever I hear anything like that, it lets me know that I am doing my job.”
Kyri himself identifies as queer, and he has reflected on what it means to provide that representation for others as an actor on Chicago Fire – which has recently been renewed for a 13th season.
“When I think of the content or the media that I was met with when I was younger, it left a lot to be desired,” he said. “But those moments that I did come across, representation of queerness, positive representation specifically, it was like oxygen.
“It was like these little breadcrumbs of joy and of affirmation. And that is a goal of mine – if I can impact the world in that way, or if I can do a service to the little queer kid that still lives in me. I’m very happy to take up space and tell the stories that I do on a platform like the one that I have.”
Chicago Fire airs on NBC in the US and Sky Witness in the UK.
