All the Characters Who’ve Left Chicago Fire Over the Years With more than a decade on

television, Chicago Fire has had dozens of characters pass through the doors of Firehouse 51

over the years. With so many cast members who have come and gone, it can be hard to

keep track of who’s left and who’s still fighting fires in the Windy City. So who’s left Chicago Fire? We break down the most shocking exits ahead. Chicago Fire is NBC’s drama series following the personal and professional lives of firefighters, paramedics and other emergency responders at the Chicago Fire Department’s fictional Firehouse 51. The series — which premiered in 2012 and is created by Dick Wolf, the same mind behind the Law & Order and FBI franchises — is the first show in NBC’s One Chicago franchise, which also includes Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med. In an interview with TV Line in 2016, executive producer Michael Brandt explained why it’s important for Chicago Fire to write off characters and keep the cast fresh.

“M*A*S*H comes to mind in terms of great shows where they survived and actually flourished with changes [among] the lead actors and characters,” he said at the time. “There is an evolution to the show. It has to go on. So yeah, you do have to freshen things up with your characters from time to time. Every TV show does it, because you kind of have to. You can’t keep telling the same stories over and over. The hardest thing that we do as writers and producers on TV is make changes to the cast. It’s such a family situation in Chicago. But unfortunately, it’s a necessary evil.” So who’s left Chicago Fire over the years?

Read on for the most dramatic exits we’re still not over. Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) — Seasons 1 – Present Taylor Kinney has starred as Lieutenant Kelly Severide — a firefighter and lieutenant at Firehouse 51 — since Season 1 of Chicago Fire. He temporarily left in Season 11, Episode 15, “Run Like Hell,” after Captain Tom Van Meter — a commander and arson investigator for the Chicago Fire Department’s Office of Fire Investigation, who Severide has worked with — tells Chief Wallace Boden that Severide left Chicago to train at “the best arson investigation training program in the world.” Van Meter also tells Boden that the program was a last-minute opportunity that was too big for Severide to pass up on, which is why Severide didn’t have enough time to tell the members of Firehouse 51 himself.

A source close to the production on Chicago Fire told Deadline in January 2023, that Kinney was taking a “leave of absence” from Chicago Fire to deal with a “personal matter.” The magazine also reported at the time that the cast and crew of Chicago Fire were informed of Kinney’s leave on January 20, 2023, and that future scripts were rewritten to accommodate for Kinney’s absence. Matt Casey (Jesse Spencer) — Seasons 1 – 10 Jesse Spencer starred as Captain Matthew Casey — a firefighter and captain at Firehouse 51 — from Seasons 1 to 10 of Chicago Fire. He left in Season 10, Episode 5, “Two Hundred,” which seem Casey leave Firehouse 51 and move to Oregon after he’s contacted by Griffin Darden — the son of Andy Darden, a firefighter killed in Chicago Fire’s pilot — who asks him to help him and his brother.

Casey, who became a father figure to the brothers after their father’s death, decides to move to Oregon to become their legal guardian to prevent them from being separated and sent to foster care while their mother, Heather, is in prison. In a press call in 2021, Spencer explained that he decided to leave Chicago Fire to take care of his family. He welcomed his first child with his wife, Kali Woodruff Carr, in April 2022. “Coming up to the 200th, I called [showrunner Derek Haas] and broke the news that I thought it was time to leave the show. He agreed we should at least get Casey to 200 episodes.,” he said.

“It was a difficult decision because I’ve loved this show from the start, but there’s other things that I would love to do in the future and there’s some family that I need to take care of. 18 years is a long time. That’s a long stretch.” Spencer continued, “It was a difficult decision, and I hate to leave the show because I do love it, but when the time comes, the time comes.” Haas told reporters that he “of course wanted to talk Jesse into staying” but was thankful that Spencer agreed to film the first five episodes of Chicago Fire season 10 to say goodbye to Casey. “That let us bring back a storyline from season one that I know Jesse was excited about when we pitched it to him, to bring back the Darden boys and really tie in the pilot to Jesse’s leaving,” Haas said. Spencer also confirmed he left Chicago Fire to spend more time with his family later on the press call. “As a lead, you don’t want to leave a show. But I wanted to leave the show.