Taylor Kinney has been playing Kelly Severide on Chicago Fire since the show first premiered. However, since January, the actor has been absent from the NBC drama, citing personal reasons for his hiatus. It is still unclear how long he’ll be back for, but his return is set for the beginning of Season 12.
As reported on by The Wrap, Kinney intends to reprise his role as the leader of Rescue Squad 3 at Firehouse 51, which Chicago Fire revolves around. The series is part of the “One Chicago” universe, which also includes Chicago Med, Chicago P.D., and Chicago Justice. Kinney has appeared in all of these spin-off shows. Until his departure in January, he was one of the few original cast members left in Season 11, which ran from September 2022 through May 2023.
Other original cast members that have stuck around for Season 12 of Chicago Fire include Jesse Spencer, who plays Matthew Casey, Monica Raymund, who plays Gabriela Dawson, Eamonn Walker, who plays Wallace Boden, and Joe Minoso, who plays Joe Cruz. The cast is rounded out by Kara Killmer, who plays Sylvie Brett, and Miranda Rae Mayo, who plays Stella Kidd.
Chicago Fire is all about the firefighters of Chicago Firehouse 51, both their professional and personal lives. The member groups of this firehouse are Company 51, Truck Company 81, Rescue Squad Company 3, Battalion 25, and Ambulance 61. The show is produced by Wolf Entertainment, a production company started by Dick Wolf. Wolf is perhaps most notoriously the name behind the highly successful and long-running franchise Law and Order (Law and Order, Law and Order SVU, and Law and Order Organized Crime) as well as FBI and Miami Vice.
Kinney’s return from hiatus isn’t the only uncertain piece of news facing the Chicago television universe. Last week, news broke that Tracy Spiridakos won’t be reprising her role as Hailey Upton, who she has been playing on Chicago P.D. since Season 4 in 2017, in Season 12. Furthermore, the writer’s strike is like a looming cloud over the future of not just the Chicago series, but TV in general. Even with Chicago Fire’s writer’s room having begun already, it remains entirely unclear when the 12th season may actually begin production.
The Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) have both been on strike for several months. Recently, the WGA re-entered tentative talks with studios, but despite the progress, the writer’s union believes that the two parties remain opposed on some key issues.
