CHICAGO FIRE: Derek Haas Teases Kidd’s Return, Brett’s Big Presentation, and Christmas Cheer Going Awry

It’s Christmas on CHICAGO FIRE…but that doesn’t mean things are exactly holly jolly.

“We realized we had this unique position where the episode was kind of on an island by itself,” CHICAGO FIRE boss Derek Haas says. “We’d shot eight episodes that all ran consecutively, and then there were a couple of weeks off, and then we have this one episode in December. So we thought, ‘Let’s do a holiday episode!’”

Of course, that means they had a little too much fun with how they incorporated the holiday into the series.

“[The writers realized] we should make the calls, the disasters, all holiday related,” Haas teases. “What if the big tree, the Millennium Park tree, fell? That’s cool. And then what if a guy put an ornament in his mouth?”

Naturally, Firehouse 51 is also going through its own drama, as Boden (Eamonn Walker) and Severide (Taylor Kinney) try to find an MIA Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo).

“I was really hoping that we could get the character back before the end of the year and was delighted when I found out that we could have her return,” Haas previews. “So then you just try to think of what’s the most provocative re-entry into the show. You’ll see her return before the end of the hour.”

“Then, episode 10 has a lot to do with the ramifications of someone who said they were going to be gone for a couple of weeks and then ended up being gone for a couple of months,” he continues. “And the tumult of having a spot open on the truck where she was next in line to be the lieutenant and she [wasn’t around for] that. So that’s gonna have a lot of conflict going forward.”

Also possibly facing conflict? Brett (Kara Kilmer), who is trying to take her paramedicine program to the next level.

“She’s now had her program tested for the whole fall, so this is going to be the big meeting where it gets to be decided if the CFD will fund the program or it’s dropped,” Haas explains. “So she has to make her case in front of a panel that is not prone to spend a lot of money on these types of things. It’s Brett being nervous, it’s 51 supporting her, and then she gets some surprise support.”

At least there’s a little bit of light-hearted stress happening for a few members of 51. “One of the big stories we had was our three millennials, the brew crew, making their microbrew beer,” Haas says of Violet (Hanako Greensmith), Gallo (Alberto Rosende), and Ritter (Daniel Kyri). “The trials and tribulations of that has been fun to write all season long. And so Winterfest, which we’ve been talking about for weeks on the show, is the culmination of all of these efforts where if your beer gets chosen as one of the contest winners, it really could spark interest in your nascent program and get you into the bars on the map, so to speak. So they got a lot riding on this Winterfest.”

But, as viewers know, business accidentally mixed with pleasure. “Of course, Gallo has been dating Kara, the girl from the the other brewery, but is in love with Violet, and he didn’t get to tell her in the last episode,” Haas says with a laugh. “And all of these things are going to come to a head at Winterfest.”

CHICAGO FIRE, Wednesdays, 9/8c, NBC

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