‘Chicago Fire’: Jesse Spencer returns for Season 11 amid Taylor Kinney’s absence Spencer

played Matt Casey on the TV series Dick Wolf for the first nine seasons. He left in the fifth episode

of Season 10, when the character moved to Oregon for a three-year commitment to a new job.

At the time, he shared that he was leaving the show because he had been doing television for 18 years and wanted to take a step back and spend more time with his family. (He previously starred in the Australian drama “Neighbours” and played Dr. Robert Chase on Fox’s “House.”) Last year, he returned to Australia for six months to star in upcoming Disney+ series, “Last Days of the Space Age.” This marks Spencer’s second return to the procedural since he left, the first coming in the Season 10 finale, when he stood next to his best friend, Severide (Taylor Kinney), in his wedding to Stella (Miranda Ray Mayo).

The return of Season 11 comes at a pivotal time for the “One Chicago” series amid a series of exits. Kinney is temporarily absent from the show due to personal issues, and he last appeared in the February 22 episode. His character was eliminated in the March 1 episode, when Severide enroll in an out-of-town arson investigation training program. At the end of Season 11, co-creator and co-showrunner Derek Haas will also leave the franchise. “I learned everything I know about storytelling, pacing, characters, production values ​​and recruiting the best cast, crew and staff from Dick Wolf and Peter Jankowski,” he said. told Variety in a statement in November. “As difficult as it is to leave the place you love and call home for over a decade, including the incredible support from Universal Television, NBC and CBS, I look forward to wants to build my own brand in the entertainment field.”