Warning: this article contains spoilers about the season five finale of Chicago Fire. Read at your own risk.
Last night’s season five finale of Chicago Fire featured a fire in a factory that rivaled the season two finale of the show in which Paramedic Leslie Shay (Lauren German) ended up dying. In the season five finale, there might be more deaths, as Matt Casey (Jesse Spencer), Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney), Christopher Herrmann (David Eigenberg) and Mouch (Christian Stolte) are all in the burning factory and any one of them may not make it out alive. The Hollywood Reporter caught up with show co-creator Derek Haas to break down the fiery finale.
Haas said that the reason that they chose to do the finale this way was because “It had been a while since we did a finale that centered on a call. Every now and then we have to remind the audience that our show’s name is Chicago Fire.”
Fans can rest easy for now, because Haas said that the season six premiere will pick up “immediately” where the finale ended, which is different from the season two finale and the season three premiere, which were set about two months apart.
Haas said that work on season six hasn’t started yet, but he thinks a common theme throughout the upcoming season will be family and will focus on tensions that may be present throughout the firehouse.
As for the future of some of the characters, Haas touched on Severide returning to work so quickly after Anna’s death and said that Severide and Stella (Miranda Rae Mayo) grow closer in season six, but “not the way people might think.”
He also said that after having episodes that mainly focused on Severide and Casey working on saving someone and being put in dangerous situations, it might be time to have another character have an episode focused mainly on them, with Haas throwing out that it might be Gabby’s (Monica Raymund) turn.
The good news for Chicago Fire fans is that the show has already been renewed for its sixth season and will remain in its normal Tuesday night timeslot. The bad news is that they’ll have to wait until September or October to find out what happens to their favorite firefighters at Firehouse 51.