Chicago Fire season 7 midseason report: Emily Foster

How has Chicago Fire season 7 gone for Emily Foster? Before Chicago Fire returns, we’re reviewing the season for Annie Ilonzeh’s character.

Before Chicago Fire comes back in the new year, we’re taking a moment to pause and look at the current season for each character. What are the important events that fans need to remember? What plot developments have been good for them, and which ones need to be improved? And of course, where could they go next when new episodes start on Jan. 9?

Click through the below slideshow as we look at Chicago Fire season 7 as it relates to Emily Foster (Annie Ilonzeh), starting with:

What’s happened so far

Emily Foster was introduced in the Chicago Fire season premiere as the replacement for Gabriela Dawson (Monica Raymund). In canon, she was the latest in a series of temporary replacements, as Sylvie Brett (Kara Killmer) had been finding reasons to get rid of everyone who’d come before her.

But in reality, viewers knew that Foster was the person who would be joining Firehouse 51 on a permanent basis because NBC announced before the premiere even aired that Annie Ilonzeh had been promoted to series regular. That took away any kind of suspense (though one could argue that the suspense wasn’t necessary, and they could’ve just named her as a regular as soon as she was cast, too).

Foster wasted no time in getting herself into trouble. She overstepped her professional bounds on one girl’s case, though it worked out because she wound up exposing a gymnastics coach who had been giving his young students performance-enhancing drugs. She also made Stella jealous when Severide began to confide in her after his father’s death.

Tidbits of Foster’s backstory have trickled out, too. She has a history with the new chaplain Kyle Sheffield (Teddy Sears), who is also Brett’s new love interest—and Foster was the one who first suggested they’d be good together. Her conversations with Severide revealed that Emily’s mom had died from from lung cancer.

Audiences also learned that Foster originally wanted to be a doctor, but got kicked out of medical school for cheating. But the last new episode saw her turn down a chance to re-enroll, as Foster told Chief Boden (Eamonn Walker) she wanted to stay at Firehouse 51. Not a huge shocker since viewers already knew the actress playing her had already been added to the main cast!