Chicago Fire returned for Season 11 and wasted no time in resolving the cliffhanger of who was about to crash Stella and Severide’s wedding night. The newlyweds fortunately both survived even though their honeymoon was ruined, and the episode was even worse in the romance department for Brett, who made a difficult decision about her relationship with Casey. One relationship is on the upswing after the premiere, however, as Violet learned that Hawkins went to bat for her at CFD and paid the price for it. They’re back together, no longer have to hide their relationship, and actress Hanako Greensmith has shared why fans should be rooting for them.
On paper, the Violet/Chief Hawkins relationship isn’t really one that should be rooted for thanks to the power imbalance between them at the beginning of their romance. He was her boss, and she had a lot to potentially lose if anybody found out… as proven by Emma finding out and trying to blackmail in Season 10. But plenty of Chicago Fans are on board with them thanks to their chemistry and how much they care for each other. When Hanako Greensmith recently spoke with CinemaBlend, she weighed in on what makes the relationship so appealing to fans despite not looking great on paper, saying:
I think Hawkins is kind of the first person that's really revealed a lot of vulnerability for Violet. We hadn't really seen her soften around anybody, and I think he really does that for her in the sense that he lets her be her. We had Gallo and I think that brings out this kind of cute competitive puppy love aspect, but Hawkins brings out something a lot more kind of sincere, perhaps, in her.
Violet and Gallo seemed like they were being set up as one of the new major couples of Chicago Fire not too long ago, but Violet and Hawkins quickly turned what could have been a fling into a serious relationship that they weren’t planning on. In fact, even the showrunners weren’t originally planning on turning their relationship into what it became, as Andrea Newman shared that they changed plans after Hanako Greensmith and Jimmy Nicholas “popped” on screen together.
So Hawkins brings out a softer and more vulnerable side of Violet; what does Violet bring out in Hawkins? Hanako Greensmith continued, saying:
I think she does a lot of the similar things for him as well. He was very buttoned up when we met him, and I think when he starts to kind of soften equally around her, we kind of start to root for something that we didn't see before. So I think that's maybe a little bit of what makes their relationship and their couplehood special.
According to the actress, fans should root for Violet and Hawkins as a pair because they bring out sides of each other than don’t show with anybody else. Even Gallo seems to have realized that what they have together is special, as he has been more of a friend to Violet than a romantic rival to Hawkins for some time now. Without Gallo intervening in the Season 11 premiere, she wouldn’t have even known what Hawkins did for her, and they wouldn’t be back together as the season continues.
Of course, Stellaride and Brettsey in this very episode proved that the course of true love never does run smooth on primetime network television, so we shouldn’t assume that the future is nothing but bright for Violet and Hawkins, even with Emma out of the picture. Still, they’re starting out the season strong, and as Hanako Greensmith pointed out, there’s a lot to root for with them.
See what happens next for both characters with new episodes of Chicago Fire on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET, between Chicago Med (which has a big new story for Crockett after losing Pamela) at 8 p.m. and the increasingly “messy” (to quote showrunner Gwen Sigan) Chicago P.D. at 10 p.m. on NBC in the 2022 TV schedule.
