‘Chicago Fire’s Showrunner Explains Why Cruz Is Apprehensive of Kelly and Damon’s Relationship
As the thirteenth season of Chicago Fire kicks off, Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) has several things to deal with. His longtime firehouse is under new leadership; he’s wading in untested waters with Stella, and another one of Benny’s surprises sought him out. In Season 12, Damon (Michael Bradway) revealed that he was Benny’s son and Kelly’s half-brother, and the succeeding season deals with this revelation. His relationship with Damon is one of his top priorities, but someone is not convinced that this is good. Joe Cruz (Joe Minoso) has reservations about the new Severide brothers and showrunner Andrea Newman talked to TV Line about why this is the case.
“Cruz has a very tumultuous history in terms of his relationship with his brother, Leon, and all the things that he did for Leon, all the drama that he had in terms of Leon,” she began, calling back to one of the earliest arcs involving Cruz and his brother that had kept him on his toes for years. “And so, he knows that getting close, having a brother, is a whole new experience, and could have its own perils for Severide, in terms of just the emotional weight of it, and what Cruz was willing to do for his brother,” the showrunner continued, detailing the workings of Cruz’s mind and why he’s paying extra attention to this relationship. “It just sort of raises all sorts of flags for him in terms of Severide and Damon’s relationship,” Newman concluded, revealing why Cruz seems to pay more attention to how Damon and Kelly work together.
Kelly Severide Deals With More Issues in ‘Chicago Fire’ Season 13.
Kelly’s arcs as Season 13 begins include his relationship with Damon and expanding his family with Stella. Another unforeseen development is the new chief, who Kelly thinks has something off about him. Having gone through having a half-sibling drop on him before, Kelly has learned his lesson and the relationship with Damon is much smoother. “This situation is so different because of the way he learned it, and also because of how close now Damon is to him,” said Newman, explaining what makes this different from the Katie situation. As far as having a baby with Stella is concerned, the showrunner said that the show will explore how it affects Severide and his wife, saying,
“[There’s] the difference between what a male firefighter that decides he wants to start a family has to deal with, and what a female firefighter who decides she wants to start a family has to deal with, how different those two situations are, and the pressures that it puts, in different ways, mostly on Kidd.”
How will Severide deal with these pressing issues? Tune in to Chicago Fire Season 13 every Wednesday at 9 pm on NBC. Catch up on Peacock.
