The Wolfpack is back on Wednesday night when all three One Chicago shows premiere their new seasons. For Chicago Fire, that is season 10 and it returns for a resolution of the cliffhanger that has had fans holding their breath all summer.
The show wrapped up with Severide (Taylor Kinney), Cruz (Joe Minoso), Capp (Randy Flagler) and Tony (Tony Ferraris) stuck in a capsized boat sinking to the bottom of Lake Michigan with their air tanks on empty and the entranceway blocked.
“There’ll be a resolution,” is pretty much all Haas would say in this exclusive interview for Monsters & Critics. “The story is going to pick up right where we left off and the characters, as you remember, are in peril. They’re trapped without oxygen in a boat with the water rising, and the boat’s sinking and everyone else onshore. So that is the situation we pick up in and the ramifications of that call are going to cast a long shadow over the start of the season.”
While Haas wouldn’t reveal who lives or who dies – and there is a life-or-death moment at the head of the show – he was able to answer some other burning questions from Season 10.
Monsters & Critics: Matt (Jesse Spencer) and Sylvie (Kara Kilmer) are finally together. These two have been aware of their feelings for a long time, although they didn’t give in to them. Does that fact make their relationship now easier or harder?
Derek Haas: I think it makes it easier. I think they’ve known each other a long time. This isn’t like they met on Tinder and have to do the get-to-know-you, they’ve known each other. That makes for a more comfortable start to a relationship. And because we’re Chicago Fire, everything’s going to go smooth and great sailing all the way through. No obstacles coming, don’t worry [He jokes].
M&C: I think because they know each other, that can make it more difficult. Because they care more about what the other person thinks of them.
Derek Haas: That’s interesting, I hadn’t thought about that. I was going to say, less surprises, I think, is a good thing.
M&C: So now that Violet (Hanako Greensmith) is a permanent team member and she really knows how to get under Gallo’s (Alberto Rosende) skin, how many in-house romances can we actually have? They shouldn’t really get together, should they?
Derek Haas: Should they? They seem to be equal parts attracted to each other and competitive, so which one of those two is going to win out? We’ll see. Does it usually work out when we have these in-house romances? I would say 10 to 1 against, but you can tell everyone these statistics but that doesn’t mean that the two characters will listen. They’ll ignore them.
M&C: In the past, Casey has had to take Gallo to task for his reckless ways. Will we see any growth for him this year?
Derek Haas: We’re definitely going to have some major stories with Gallo, not romantic stories, but call-related stories, and watch his growth. He’s been here a while now. He’s still always got his wildcard edge to him, and Casey as his mentor is even more pronounced this season.
M&C: When we first met Christopher Herrmann (David Eigenberg) he was always trying to find a way to make a buck. But now he has Molly’s and a promotion, so he must have gotten a raise with that. What’s left for him? Are we going to see a family story or is it going to be more stuff that he becomes a mentor to the younger crew?
Derek Haas: He’s so different than he was if you watched Season 1. He’s gone from the get-rich-quick guy to the sage businessman. That doesn’t change. We’re going to build towards this story with Herrmann and Mouch (Christian Stolte), where the old dogs have to teach the new dogs some old tricks in order to get through a very harrowing shift. We always like to do those things where we’ve got these generations that can play against each other.
M&C: Lieutenant Grainger (Jon-Michael Ecker) and Sylvie broke up. Might he come back?
Derek Haas: We have not really made plans yet because we weren’t sure actually what the actor’s plans were going to be. We’re working on that.
M&C: You’re hitting your 200th episode and you have something big planned. Will we possibly see any familiar faces return?
Derek Haas: You will see some characters return that reach all the way back to Season 1 and 2. So yes, we will be seeing some old faces.
There was a contest, Chicago Fire’s naming a character in an episode. Is it a key role? Does the person already know?
Derek Haas: It’s in the 200th episode and it’s in more than one scene. The person who won, I don’t know if they know. That’s a good question. I think so because I think they would have to sign a release. I don’t think it’ll be a surprise.
Chicago Fire returns for its 10th season on Wednesday, September 22 at 9/8c on NBC.
Is there Stella Kidd on the show for you guys? Does Stellaride exist? why was nothing asked about it? about the boss.