Chicago Fire Boss Previews Severide’s Die Hard-Esque Episode: ‘We Knew Taylor Kinney Would Slay It’

Sound the alarm! On this Wednesday’s Chicago Fire, Severide goes missing, along with one of the firehouse’s rigs, in the middle of the night. But the firefighter is far from absent during the thriller-esque episode (airing at 9/8c on NBC).

In fact, his portrayer Taylor Kinney has quite the Die Hard-like adventure as the mystery of who took the truck and what they want with it unfolds, showrunner Andrea Newman tells TVLine via email.

Read on for scoop on how Stella copes with her hubby’s disappearance, what the new floater firefighter might have to do with the mystery, and what Kinney thought of the special installment (which marks the show’s 250th episode!).

TVLINE | This week is a different kind of episode for the show, and you feel it right from the start (it’s not often we see the firehouse crew getting ready for bed!). What was behind the idea for this story? And what excited you about it? 
I’m so glad you noticed that, about all of them getting ready for bed! We were trying to remember if we’ve ever even seen that on the show before. Our amazing writer, Matt Whitney, wrote this one (it’s based on a real event!), and we were excited about giving Severide his own action/thriller episode and watching the impact it has on Kidd and 51 at the same time.

Severide has been trapped behind a desk lately, covering the firehouse for Boden, doing paperwork, etc., and it felt like, in some ways, he was a caged animal ready to break out and go tear some stuff apart. And that’s pretty much what he does in this episode!

TVLINE | Severide and Stella have already been through so much over the past couple seasons. How is Stella handling her husband now go missing?
It’s a rough time for Kidd. She has to somehow set her emotions aside while she throws herself into finding her husband. Some alarming suspects emerge along the way.

TVLINE | Can you tease how the new floater Damon and what Ritter overheard last week play into this episode? 
Damon is now on Ritter’s radar in a big way, and Ritter has to make some decisions. The fallout of those decisions will definitely peel back layers on Damon’s character.

TVLINE | I have to imagine this also felt like a different experience for the cast, especially Taylor Kinney, while shooting the episode. What did Taylor think of the storyline and the different challenges you presented to him in this hour? 
Taylor is so game for this kind of thing. He loves the action and is a very physical guy. All our cast regularly trains with real firefighters, and Taylor loves that kind of work. As soon as the idea of a Die Hard episode for Severide came up in the writers’ room, we knew he’d slay it.