5 questions about Gabriela Dawson leaving Chicago Fire

2. Who will fill Dawson’s void at Firehouse 51?

In addition to being Paramedic in Charge, Gabriela Dawson had a significant role around Firehouse 51. While Casey and Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) are the leaders in the line of fire, Dawson was also someone who helped lead the way—and somebody who was there for several characters in and around the house. And she’s a co-owner of Molly’s. So who’s going to fill her many functions in Chicago Fire now?

The show set up its core trio with Casey, Dawson and Severide. Even in subplots where Severide and Casey were teamed up on an investigation, like this season’s second episode “Ignite On Contact”, Dawson was still there to offer her insight; she’s the one who suggested that they talk to the students about the high school fire. She’s worked with both of them in various subplots and provides that third opinion when they butt heads.

Who’s going to be that third voice now? Do we see more of Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo)? Is it Brett? She’s the paramedic, but as we just discussed, it doesn’t seem like she’s got the experience or general life experience to provide the same perspective that Dawson did. Or you could throw in more of someone like Christopher Herrmann (David Eigenberg), but he’d probably just get irritated and throw up his hands eventually.

Aside from her job description, Dawson was often written as a sounding board for other people. She supported Brett during her pregnancy scare and chipped in a few key comments to Stella in the ongoing “will they, won’t they again” of Stellaride over the last two seasons. She’s very much been a sort of den mother for Firehouse 51. Who’s everyone going to turn to during Chicago Fire season 7? Again, we could use Herrmann purely because it’d be hilarious, but he probably doesn’t want to hear anyone’s problems.

And her portion of Molly’s, not to mention her many shifts behind the bar, are going to have to go to someone too. What about characters like Bria, who leaned on Dawson? The show doesn’t have to mention Bria again, but we’ll certainly remember that she was one of several outside characters who benefited from Dawson’s help.

Do you make a bigger role for somebody like Otis (Yuri Sardarov)? He’d love to be helpful and could use more screen time. But without Dawson, Chicago Fire is going to have to change the way that a lot of things are written iboth on and off-duty, because she was involved in a lot of the team’s business.