The NBC drama Chicago Fire will welcome back its very own for the 12th season: Taylor Kinney (Vampire Diaries, The Other Woman.) According to The Hollywood Reporter, Kinney will reprise his role as Lieutenant Kelly Severide. Sources have said that the Chicago Fire writers room has written Kinney’s character back into some early episodes.
The season’s production is on halt due to the ongoing actors strike. At this time, it is still being determined whether Kinney will be back for good or just for a few episodes.
Kinney took a leave of absence from the show during the end of the 2022-2023 series because of what sources have said are personal matters. In the show, Severide’s absence was explained by saying his character was attending an arson investigation program and would be coming back.
In the first episode after his absence, Tim Hopper (Grave Secrets, Tenderness), who plays Capt. Van Meter and Eamonn Walker (Legacy, Lord of War), who plays Chief Boden, are seen discussing that when Severide completes his program, he will share all of his newfound knowledge and expertise with the show’s Firehouse 51.
Kinney has been acting on Chicago Fire since its debut in 2012 and had been in 231 back-to-back episodes before his leave. He has also guest starred in various other Chicago TV series on NBC, including more than 20 episodes of Chicago Med, PD and the limited series Justice.
After the end of the writers strike late last month, the writer rooms on all three Chicago series and NBC’s Law & Order franchise were all back in business.
Both Chicago and Law & Order are part of the massive producing company run by Dick Wolf, Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television.
Season 12 will not be in production until the actors union, SAG-AFTRA, works through the ongoing strike between studios and streamers, which have been meeting regularly these past few weeks.
A statement released by the union yesterday reads, “While talks over the past week have been productive, we remain far apart on key issues.”