Chicago Fire Boss Previews Casey’s Potential Departure in 200th Episode: He’s in ‘a No-Way-Out Situation’
Captain Matt Casey has spent 10 seasons battling blazes on Chicago Fire, but his time in the Windy City might soon be coming to an end.
This past Wednesday’s episode sent viewers into a tizzy when the firefighter returned from visiting Griffin and Ben Darden in Oregon and confessed to Herrmann that he thinks he needs to move across the country to take care of his late best friend’s sons. A promo for next Wednesday’s 200th installment (NBC, 9/8c) furthered teased Casey’s potential departure with emotional words from Boden and flashbacks of the captain’s time at Firehouse 51. So is longtime cast member Jesse Spencer exiting the NBC drama on which he’s starred since its debut?
“All I can say is we never hold anything back on Chicago Fire. Sometimes we fake you out, sometimes we don’t,” showrunner Derek Haas coyly replies with a laugh. “That’s what makes the show interesting. When the boat was sinking between [Seasons 9 and 10], somebody in my family was like, ‘You know, 99 percent of the time, they’re OK. But it’s the one percent that makes me nervous.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, that’s the only way you can do these shows.'”
For Casey, it feels as if there is no other option but to leave Chicago behind to look after the Darden boys. “He, certainly, had other things come up over the years that might have cost him his job or suspended his job for a while, and he’s overcome them all, but we’re in a little bit of a no-way-out situation here,” Haas says.
Plus, deciding to become Griffin and Ben’s guardian fulfills a dream of Casey’s that dates all the way back to the pilot. “The one thing that we’ve shown since Episode 1 was how much he wants to be a father and be a family guy. It fits his character that the thing he’s going to put first is the health and safety of those boys,” Haas notes.
As such, Casey will be contemplating his future in the “nostalgic” 200th episode and what a move would mean for his relationship with girlfriend Sylvie Brett. (“The episode opens with the two of them talking,” Haas says.) And given that it’s a milestone installment, it should come as no surprise that “there are some big, big things happening. Big things, cinematically, and also emotionally,” Haas teases.
In preparing for the hour, “we knew it was going to be the fifth episode of the season. Usually, we break out everything toward the winter finale, but this year, we said, ‘Let’s break everything toward the 200th,'” Haas shares. “So a lot of storylines that have started are going to either get resolved or have some sort of climax in this episode.”
That also goes for Cruz, who gets closer to becoming a father as well when his wife Chloe goes into labor. “Pregnancies have always gone well on our show. Nothing ever happens to complicate them, and so I’m sure this will be just another smooth pregnancy,” Haas says with a laugh.
I really don’t believe that he will leave. It’s a misdirect. At least I hope it is.
If Jesse Spencer was leaving, they would have ended the last season not having him and Brett getting together, but him deciding that he was still in love with Dawson.
Literally every single “next episode promo” for Chicago Fire is a dramatic misdirect that gets resolved with a subtle twist in the first twenty minutes. Every. Single. One. They’ve perfected the art form! Seems only natural that they’d bring the same drama outta the commercials and into the last three minutes of the 199th episode; if only to get everyone talking about next week.
I lost faith in this showrunner and his misdirects when he faked out Matt dying for four months and wrapped that fiasco up with a fake funeral, which was also a “no way out situation.” I think he has the wrong idea about how to gain audience trust while still having thrilling cliffhangers…his description in this interview is basically saying “even a stopped clock is right twice a day.” But I don’t use a stopped clock to tell time; I find something reliable. I like Jesse and Casey, but if this is a giant misdirect like the season 5 finale and season 6 premiere, I might be done. Tell compelling stories and you don’t need constant gimmicks.
WhyyyyyyyyyyyCasey please don’t leave you and Brett just starting a life together romantically and now you want to leave!!!!!! If Casey leaves they’ve miles well say goodbye to Chicago Fire altogether then it won’t be the same without him and writers should know that.
The director of the show just pretty much said he is leaving thing is though if he does there is no pretty much can say goodbye it is fact chicago fire can’t and won’t survive
If he leaves it’s gonna be crazy I thou he would be the next chief for the fire house I don’t know if I would watch all the time with all the changes so fast an it’s like one of my favorite shows too
totally agree!!!
I hope Jesse Spencer is not leaving. The best part of Chicago Fire is the friendship of Casey and Severide. Casey also only just found happiness again with Brett.
“Nostalgic episode” is salestalk for clipshow. They better not be wasting their 200th on a clipshow.
Really hope he is staying. That said: he has not been spotted on set since the 200th episode. So that means he will at least leave for a few episodes. Best we can hope for at this point. And then Brett will fall for her new supervisor of course.
I’ve been thinking that they’re setting him up as a love interest for her too.
I haven’t looked at that way they could throw him in there to shake things up between Casey and Brett I mean Jesse Spence did say towards the end of season 9 Casey wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon but his relationship with Brett would be just in the honeymoon stages that they would see challenges in this season
If Jesse Spencer goes, I will not miss his rigid stuffy performance. After 200 episodes it is embarrasing that Captain Matt Casey hasn’t grown from his typical puffed chest big ego machismo.
The show did a major disservice to firefighters when he hid his headache/dizziness. A captain should never put himself or his team at risk by denying/ignoring/hiding an illness.
Toxic masculinity machoism is not acceptable in any workplace.
Did you have the same energy when Severide was lying about his knee and stealing pills, after Shay cut him off?
And pressured her into switching out his urine for hers so he could fake-pass a drug test at work. And then came to work drunk and hungover after Shay died. And then punched Otis because Severide’s leadership was slightly challenged. At least Casey can say he had a head injury that compromised his ability to make good decisions…one time. It’d be great if Jesse stayed and Blank Stare Taylor tried to find a new job.
LOL on the name for Severide. I happen to like him but my husband says he always looks constipated. I read somewhere that he is leaving after this season. So if it’s true that Matt moves to Oregon and takes Brett with him & Severide leaves plus the loss of Boden (is he leaving or just hving a smaller role). We are left with only Herman and Mauch as the originals. The rest are not bad, except I can’t stand the paramedic (can’t remember her name) that Gallo likes. Not sure the show can survive with juts those in the case. God help us if this “AWESOME” Lt is made permanent. Lord he was annoying.
Totally agree
Great description of Severide!
I always wonder if he’s so stilted in his performance because he has to work hard at staying in an American accent. As an American living in Australia, I notice that some Aussie actors have transitioned well to speaking with an American accent, he always sounds fake.
He wasn’t stilted at all before season 7 or so. He can still pull off meaty scenes, like when he told Griffin how Andy died. He’s never stilted on calls. I think he’s bored silly with the formulaic episodes, feel good wholesome Full House fluff, and expository dialogue, and it shows in the bad delivery. He doesn’t show up for those scenes. And that’s why I won’t be surprised if he really is done.
I think Casey should ask what the boys want to do. It seems like the social worker and the counselor made the decision that leaving would be a bad idea. Maybe they want to leave! They should have a say.
Absolutely. Have a real good sit down with the kids and ask what they want. I don’t want Casey to leave. He, Brett and Severide are good together.
I agree I think he should bring the kids back with him and continue his relationship I hope he doesn’t leave or I will stop watching honestly I’m tired of having all these great characters in front of us after we so embed it into the season
My thoughts also., Casey should go visit the mother in jail and get her thoughts/permission to bring the boys back to Chicago.
I don’t think Jesse is leaving. Brettsey just got together. Those boys need to come back to Chicago so Casey and the rest of firehouse 51 can take care of them & love them.
Agree with you 💯 %
If this is true then they wasted a lot of time with Sylvie/Matt pairing.
Jesse Spencer just got married, he probably wants spend time with his new wife and maybe starts a family.
He’s so concerned about these boys that he’s been shown calling them? Visiting them? Keeping up with them?
Nope. Little to no mention of them onscreen yet we’re to believe he’s running to save them?
I couldn’t have said it better! I didn’t even know who they were until I read about it and Durden died in the 1st episode?
Watch season 2. Free on Peacock.
Is somebody watching Chicago file my favorite character is Matt Casey it will be sad if they do get rid of him but as a fire fighter I understand what they are doing now I wish they bring the kids to Chicago but sometimes that doesn’t work and a fire fighter family his brothers and sisters or in this case fathers and mothers to the firefighters family so I understand what they’re doing especially because of my dad Is a line of duty death as a fire fighter so I understand what they are doing.
I really hate the way the Chicago franchise uses pregnancies in the storylines. I hope that this baby will be fine. Because there’s been so many pregnancy related traumas in the 3 shows and sometimes we really do just need a smooth sailing birth..
I am all for Chicago One, no matter if it is Med, Fire, or PD, but the one I miss the most is Nick Wechsler. He can be on any of the Chicago’s again and that would be fine by me. He just exited PD with no real explanation or anything. Bring him back or to any of the other series. I can see him as a hot firefighter!!! :)
I totally agree…just saw him in an older episode & he seems so legit in this type of role. 👍
A lot of the comments remind me of the excuses about why Monica wasn’t really leaving back after season 6. It’s never a good time to leave a job. There is always a storyline that gets tangled by it. Contract negotiations fall through. It happens. Matt and Sylvie can stay together, just like when we don’t see Donna and Cindy for years but they’re still happily with Boden and Herrmann. We barely saw Chloe at all last year and she was marrying Cruz. The writers would be silly to break them up when the show is aging and Kara could end up leaving after 8 years this season. If Jesse is leaving, I applaud him for making sure Matt wasn’t going to Puerto Rico. Well played.
I want him to stay in Chicago and stay with Brett and the show
Meh, he should leave and take Brett with him.
Heather said wen she was in jail the first time around for the dui and murder she actually told Casey that her and husband put Casey down as the guardian of the boys if anything were to happen with them! So the school counselor and social worker can’t stand in his way!
I just watched one of those older episodes and when Heather came on to Casey he first kissed back but then he told her he couldn’t bc Andy was his best friend. Hmmm, wasn’t Dawson Brett’s best friend? That’s ONE of the reasons they don’t work as a couple.
Unfortunately, Gabby dated Peter Mills for about a year. So, using your logic, Dawsey never should have happened, because Matt never should have dated another firefighter’s ex. And that solves that!
That didn’t follow the logic, had nothing to do with being firefighters. Casey and Mills were not best friends,.
You right if Andy des hits best friand who hé want à relationship with Brett’s and Dawson. des very close and Casey want à relationship so hé Mich didn’t love Dawson Line hé Said hé did
Didn’t I read somewhere that Griffen & Ben have an aunt? I don’t think Casey will leave….I think that the prospect of starting a life & family with Brett, will pull him back to Chicago.
They do but she left a month ago, according to the case workers in the latest episode.
Moi je pense qu’il ai possible que Brett tombe enceinte de Casey et que sa remettre justement Casey en question biensur et le rôle de la famille prenne son sens.
Casey aura la possibilité d être enfin heureux et aussi s occupé de des gamins ils ne pourront pas lui refuser la garde je le voit cc sa
So he pretty much just said Casey is leaving the show without actually saying but hinted it it was good run but I’m telling you take Casey off your going to lose more fans then you will keep meaning there will be no season 11 and I will not finish season 10 if you take him off there is other ways to challenge him and Brett’s relationship in this season other than taking him off the show
He’s probably leaving because he wants to have a decent haircut again.
A serious comment, though…. Watching Casey with Griffin in season 2 versus Casey with Griffin in season 10 enormously highlights how emotionally closed down and guarded Casey has become since then….well, since Gabby walked out. Whether it’s Jesse Spencer being checked out or an acting choice he’s made, I hope a big move and reboot of Casey’s life, with or without Brett, reminds him of who he used to be and helps him trust giving himself to people again. I think he might actually need to do this in order to be who Brett thinks he is. So, I guess I hope he leaves and Jesse Spencer agrees to drop in from time to time. Also I hope I haven’t thought about this more than the writers have….including that Casey’s dad died and his mom went to prison and he ended up fostered by an aunt/uncle when he was 15…that should definitely be part of what’s driving him to do this.
I have watched every Chicago Fire episode from the beginning. But if Jesse Spenser leaves, so will I. Sorry, but we’ve lost too many, too often. That would be a bridge too far. 😥
Please don’t let Casey leave Chicago Fire. Maybe have the boys volunteer to go back to Chicago to be with Casey and their old friends and family. Casey and Severide make the show. If Casey leaves then this should be the last season and episode.
I really hope he is not off the show. Too many people have left the Chicago series. So much with covid and all just wish things would stay okay for awhile.
I am going to miss Jesse. He is the link that keeps the cast together losing him, part of this link it will break. But I understand what he is going through family is first than anything. Jesse I wish you the best and not to mention you are one of the cutest actors on the show also including Taylor Kinney and Charlie Barnett Yoosa! Again Jesse Best of Luck to you and you will be missed.