Sumith Prasad
The eleventh season of NBC’s action series ‘Chicago Fire’ sees a shift in Lieutenant Kelly Severide’s career as he starts to focus more on arson investigations by joining hands with the police department. When a last-minute spot becomes available in “the best arson investigation training program in the world,” Severide leaves Firehouse 51 and Chicago to join the same. Severide’s training program is a storyline conceived to explain the departure of actor Taylor Kinney from the series. As the eleventh season of the action drama concludes without Kinney’s reappearance, the viewers must be concerned about his future in the series. Well, here’s what we can share about the same!
Taylor Kinney’s Temporary Exit for Personal Reasons
Taylor Kinney’s departure from ‘Chicago Fire’ was announced in January 2023. Rather than departing from the series for good, the actor took a temporary leave of absence to deal with a personal matter. The cast and crew of the show were informed of the cast member’s exit at the last minute, forcing the writers to rewrite the scripts to accommodate Severide’s absence at Firehouse 51. The creative heads behind the show then conceived an arson investigation training program in Alabama to explain the absence of the main cast member, who has been an essential part of the series since the premiere episode of the series.
Ever since Kinney’s departure, both the actor and NBC have refrained from commenting on the exact reason behind the former’s leave of absence. There aren’t reports that reveal what exactly is the “personal matter” the actor has to deal with or how many days he has to be away from the production of the action drama to do the same. Kinney’s prolonged absence is explained by the revelation that Severide has become a part of an investigative team after the conclusion of the training program. Since there is enough scope for Severide in the already greenlighted twelfth season of the show, the viewers may want to know whether Kinney will come back to the series. Here’s everything we can share about the same.
Will Taylor Kinney Come Back to Chicago Fire?
As of now, neither NBC nor Taylor Kinney has released a statement concerning the actor’s return to ‘Chicago Fire.’ When the actress took a temporary leave of absence from the series, the viewers had been expecting him to return to the series in the eleventh season finale. However, Kinney doesn’t feature in the same. His character Severide’s shoes are filled by Jesse Spencer’s Casey as Spencer headlines the cast of the eleventh-season finale. Kinney hasn’t maintained a regular social media presence after his exit from the series, which makes it harder to find out whether the actor is ready to return to the action drama.
Since Kinney’s leave of absence is temporary, the actor is expected to eventually come back to the series. Kinney was recently spotted at the 2023 MotoGP VIP Experience & Charity Giving event at the Circuit of The Americas racing track outside of Austin, Texas. The actor’s public appearance can be seen as a sign of his readiness to get back to work. If that’s the case, we can expect Kinney to feature in the twelfth season of the series.
Narrative-wise, Kinney can return to the twelfth season of the series as Severide easily. In the eleventh-season finale, Stella Kidd leaves Chicago for finding her husband and bringing him back to their home. We may see Severide returning to Chicago with his wife most likely in the twelfth season premiere. Having said that, Kinney’s screen time can be limited in the upcoming season due to the recent cut to the show’s budget, which is expected to reduce the episode count of the cast members of the series.
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