The end of season 12 saw something we didn’t expect to happen. Chief Boden left Firehouse 51. It was for a good reason, but it means change, and change isn’t always good. There was hope that Herrmann would end up in Boden’s chair in season 13, but that isn’t happening right away.
Dermot Mulroney is coming into the series as the new Chief of Firehouse 51 instead. We talked with Newman about what this meant, along with discussing Violet’s journey of love after loss and some hints of things to come for Cruz.
We had to find out why Herrmann wouldn’t land Boden’s office, and it really does come down to something that we expected. Even Boden hinted that this wouldn’t be an immediate thing. There are steps that Herrmann has to take to become the next Chief.
“Herrmann’s in the process, which creates a nice tension there when the new Chief comes in, who looks like he’s going to be making himself pretty comfortable as Herrmann’s trying to develop and get his way to that seat himself…There’s a lot of fun tension to play with.”
With the mention of the new Chief, Dom Pascal, we had to ask about how he’s going to be different from Boden. We can’t have someone who is just the same, especially when it’s someone coming in from the outside.
“He’s not trying to be Boden…That’s one of the things he says right off the bat. Things are going to change around here. It’s not going to be the same firehouse…He has no problem with shaking things up.”
It’s not just in his way of coming into the firehouse, either. Newman shared some of the things that are different.
“He’s not a big speech giver. He’s not a “let’s hut it out”…He is happy to keep his personal life personal and he is definitely going to have tensions and different dynamics with all the firehouse people. There are surprising people who form relationships with him, and surprising people who don’t like him from the jump.”
We did move on to the wonderful casting of Mulroney in this role. While there was a certain idea for this new character, Mulroney brought his own style to it as well.
“It’s like this alchemy that goes together, but I think for us, what was really important is that Pascal is revealed kind of in layers…We need to get to know him, and the audience actually gets more of a peek into his life than the guys at the firehouse.”
Part of that personal life is KaDee Strickland’s character, Monica, Dom’s estranged wife.
“That relationship tells us a lot about him…He’s got a past, and everybody around the firehouse wants to get to know who he is and try and figure it out.”
I had to praise Newman and her writing team for the way Violet’s personal storyline has been handled. While she has started up a fling with Sam Carver, she’s not ready to give in to him. It was clear toward the end of season 12 that her heart was still very much with Evan Hawkins. That’s normal; he was taken from her in such a traumatic way.
So many other shows would rush another relationship, but Chicago Fire is giving Violet a chance to mourn. What’s to come next for her? She is young enough to find love again.
“Violet’s journey this season is a bit of a roller coaster…it’s a process of her trying to figure out how to best sort of straighten herself out from that…Keep Hawkins alive in our hearts, but also move on.”
There will be more of Violet and Carver as well, for those who ship them. This is great news considering how Carver was starting to open up to her. It’s time we learned much more about his past, and Violet could be the way to do that.
“They’ve got a lot of stuff that they’re trying to work out…It’s very character-heavy this year and that’s partly because we have the new Chief and that reveals new sides and dynamics.”
Professionally for Violet, we also get to see her take the lead much more. She’s not Lead Paramedic on Ambo 61. It took some time to find a second she liked to work with, and now we get to see more of that, including with how things change with the new Chief coming in.
Considering Severide was Acting Captain for the time that Boden was gone during season 12, many of us wondered why he wasn’t the one Boden suggested became the next Chief. Well, that’s due to Severide not enjoying the position that he was in. He also has another love.
“Arson is his true love….He did not enjoy a lot of the parts of being…captain around the house. He doesn’t do paperwork. He doesn’t want to sit behind [a desk]. He’s a guy that runs hot and wants to keep moving.”
There are a lot of things to come for Severide throughout the new season. We learned that Damon is his half-brother, and that’s surely going to bring up a few storylines and problems for him. How much did he really know about his dad?
Then there’s the fact that he wants to become a dad. He knows that this is a conversation to have with Kidd, though, as it’s her career that is affected more than his.
“That’s a conversation and a journey that they’ll be on, and I think what’s really cool about that is getting to show how different it is for a male firefighter and a female firefighter.”
There’s always something that Cruz is up to each season. During season 12, he realized that he loves being a lieutenant, but that storyline was pushed aside when there was a threat to his family. What about in the new season? Newman teased a few things for us.
“One thing that we love about this show having been on as long as it has is we always get into the past and have the past inform the present…Cruz will have somebody from his past appear this season that will really shake him up and change some things in his life.”
Who could that be? We know his brother is still somewhere out there, and that storyline could certainly change things for him. Could it be a former fling, though? How about someone he saved?
