Chicago Fire has earned its reputation for delivering wild cliffhangers over the years, and Season 10 ended on the promise that Severide and Kidd’s wedding night was about to take a turn that they weren’t expecting… and then the credits rolled fans into months of hiatus. Now, Fire is on the verge of returning to NBC for Season 11, and showrunners Andrea Newman and Derek Haas talked about the cliffhanger, along with a warning that prices will be paid.
The Season 10 finale (available streaming with a Peacock subscription) ended with the newlyweds off to spend their wedding night together in a secluded cabin, which really seemed like just about the safest honeymoon spot for two characters who tend to wind up in the middle of emergencies on a regular basis. Plus, it came after almost an hour of setbacks that threatened to prevent their wedding from happening, even after Casey returned. Based on the trailer for the new One Chicago episodes, it seems that losing their venue may pale in comparison to what happens that night, as a pickup truck pulled up to the cabin.
Considering that Severide had recently made enemies of some dangerous men, it’s safe to say that it’s not a pickup truck full of well-wishers to congratulate them on tying the knot. When the Fire bosses spoke with CinemaBlend ahead of Season 11, Andrea Newman explained the importance of cliffhangers and high stakes for this series:
Cliffhangers are such a part of the world we're in anyway. I mean, the accidents, the calls, the action, always has moments that if you cut out of this, it's a cliffhanger right there. For us, weighing into the character of it is fun, and is the best part. But the stakes only stay high if there are real repercussions sometimes. We really lose characters, and people really get hurt badly or die. So we are very aware of that, and we want to keep the stakes as real as possible all the time, and not have it be something that every every time, you know, 'Oh, they'll be fine on the other end of that.' This season, there are stakes. There are stakes, and there will be prices paid.
Longtime Chicago Fire fans can undoubtedly come up with some specific examples of characters being hurt and dying and facing real repercussions. It wasn’t that long ago that poor Otis died, and a whole arc of Season 9 centered on Casey possibly having to retire from active duty due to an injury he sustained on the job years ago. Just last season, it took Cruz some time to shake off what happened to him during the boat emergency. What are the “prices” that will be paid in Season 11, and how high are these stakes?
Fans can only hope that the people paying the price for their decisions will be the people who seem to be on the verge of crashing the Stellaride wedding night, but it’s hard to say much for sure when it comes to Chicago Fire resolving its cliffhangers. When I asked the showrunners how much they planned ahead last season for what happens on Kidd and Severide’s wedding night, Derek Haas shared:
Well, I'm glad you asked, because we definitely were thinking almost at the beginning of last season [that] we were gonna aim that season towards the wedding. When you do a Severide/Kidd wedding, you want it to be towards the end of the episode, and all the surprises that went into that. Then that almost assured that something was going to go crazy on their wedding night. It wouldn't be Chicago Fire if everything just was sunshine and roses, as we say. So yeah, they're in for a major weird honeymoon.
Andrea Newman added “maybe the weirdest ever,” so fans should evidently buckle up for what comes next in Chicago Fire! At least there is one question from the Season 10 finale that was already answered, as Brett decided that her life is in Chicago, and she couldn’t move to Portland to be with Casey. That decision was not only good for fans of Kara Killmer’s character, but also Violet after everything she went through with Brett’s replacement!
See what Chicago Fire has in store for Severide and Kidd on their wedding night with the Season 11 premiere on Wednesday, September 21 at 9 p.m. ET on NBC. Fans might not have to wait until Fire to see the heroes of Firehouse 51 back in action, however, as Chicago Med co-showrunner Andrew Schneider hinted that some of the Fire first responders will appear in the medical drama’s Season 8 premiere just an hour earlier.
Stellaride may also need some help from law enforcement, but it’s pretty safe to say that Voight and Co. don’t exactly have jurisdiction out in the middle of nowhere! (And P.D. boss Gwen Sigan shared that Voight and Co. will have plenty of messy twists happening on their own show anyway.) One thing that is confirmed is that One Chicago will be back for the season on September 21, and fans should be sure to tune in.
