Warning: Spoilers ahead for the Chicago Fire episode "Law of the Jungle." Feel free to skip over to one of our other articles until you've caught up!
After almost six full seasons, NBC's Chicago Fire has become known for its wild cliffhangers that put the main characters in insanely dangerous situations. But, the most recent episode took things a step further, and now we know why the show chose to take such a big leap. And, I mean that quite literally, as the show went dark in the final moments of the episode while Casey and Severide escaped a giant fireball by jumping from the roof of a building. Here's what Chicago Fire showrunner Derek Haas had to say about the crazy cliffhanger:
I was thinking about how to do a different one than anything we've done before, and I was thinking about that Butch and Sundance scene where Robert Redford and Paul Newman run and jump off a cliff as the super posse is closing in on them. I said, '[Casey and Severide are] kind of our Butch and Sundance. I wonder if we could do something like that?' We just got into the writers' room and talked about a bunch of different scenarios. We wrote it... and we kept going back to that Butch and Sundance idea. When the director of that episode was directing them, he was like, 'Oh yeah, we gotta do this similar to the Butch and Sundance thing!'
Well, the inspiration from the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid certainly comes through in the last moments of the episode. Of all the thrilling cliffhangers that Chicago Fire has thrown at fans in its five and a half seasons, Casey and Severide jumping off a roof to a deadly fireball backdrop has definitely become one of the most memorable. And, as Derek Haas told TVLine, with so many wild cliffhangers under the show's belt, they had to find a way to do something they'd never done before. And, cutting to black in the middle of the action absolutely fills that requirement, especially after the two finally made up after a season filled with tension brewing between the besties.
We can see how everything turns out for Casey and Severide after their (hopefully) death-defying leap when Chicago Fire returns after its Olympics-induced hiatus on Thursday, March 1 at 10 p.m. EST. For more on what you can catch in the coming weeks, be sure to check out our comprehensive midseason premiere schedule.
