Chicago Fire season 7 character preview: Matthew Casey

What should happen

It’s beyond obvious that Matthew Casey’s world is going to be rocked by the absence of his wife, and Chicago Fire season 7 had better not gloss over that. Chicago Fire made the Dawsey ship a cornerstone of its writing for six seasons, and Casey cares so much about Dawson that he should be no less than floored by what happens next.

Plus, remember that they weren’t married that long. They were married in the eighth episode of season 5, so their marriage lasted a season and a half—which is fairly brief. It’s got to hurt even more to take that big step and have it all go away a relatively short time later.

This is one of those times where an off-screen choice (in this case, Monica Raymund‘s departure) has an on-screen side effect on a character. Or at least it should.

It would also be beyond insulting if the show tried to introduce a new love interest for Casey, like Chicago PD did for Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer). Instead, Casey needs to have time and space to grieve the loss of the woman he loves, and to focus on himself for a while.

Let’s see him throw himself into his work, maybe with some help from his old friend Severide, now that Severide is in a relationship and Casey won’t be. But after so long developing Casey within his relationship with Dawson, let’s have a storyline that’s about Casey on his own—and him getting used to being on his own.