Chicago Fire season 7: Here’s how Dawson is leaving (for now)

Chicago Fire’s Derek Haas has revealed how Chicago Fire season 7 is writing out Gabriela Dawson after Monica Raymund’s departure. Spoiler alert!

One Chicago fans have wondered how Chicago Fire is going to write out Gabriela Dawson, and now we have an answer—to a point.

While Monica Raymund is no longer on the show, her character will still be part of the series during the first portion of Chicago Fire season 7.

Showrunner Derek Haas revealed to TVLine that when the season premieres, Dawson will have taken the position she was offered in Puerto Rico—but she and Matthew Casey (Jesse Spencer) are still together in a “long-distance relationship.”

“A partner in a marriage takes a long-distance job, and so then you have to deal with a new reality to your relationship,” Haas explained, adding that “We actually did a lot of research about the modern long-distance relationship, and how those are dealt with and/or overcome and/or fraught with danger.”

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That answers the immediate question for Chicago Fire fans, who have been wondering if the couple would divorce or Dawson would be killed off following Raymund’s decision not to renew her contract after season 6.

However, it doesn’t address the long-term future of her character.

Having Casey and Dawson in a long-distance marriage preserves the show’s status quo for now, but it’s a temporary solution to a permanent issue. It leaves Dawson’s character arc open-ended, when the audience already knows that the actress playing her is not coming back.

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Will Chicago Fire have Casey interacting with an absent Dawson for the entirety of season 7? And what about a potential season 8? It’s hard to see this idea lasting very long.

Haas didn’t comment to TVLine about how long Chicago Fire will pursue this storyline, but did talk about how Dawson’s departure opened up new avenues for the writers’ room, while also speaking on his love for the Dawsey ship.

“It becomes exciting, because a slate gets wiped clean, and you get to come up with new stories and new ideas and generate new thoughts,” he explained. “It’s a catch-22, because I liked them in a relationship.”

While fans now know how the series will handle Gabriela Dawson personally, Chicago Fire season 7 has already filled her spot at Firehouse 51 professionally, casting an actress to recur as a new paramedic.

We’ll have to see if Dawson continues to be an absent presence on the show throughout the new season, or comes back to say a final goodbye, or gets written out off-screen. But at least for now, she’ll still be part of the picture.

What do you think of how Chicago Fire is dealing with Monica Raymund’s exit? Let us know your reaction to Gabriela Dawson’s cliffhanger conclusion in the comments.

Chicago Fire returns Sept. 26 on NBC.