Here’s why Chicago Fire killed Otis
Why did Chicago Fire kill Otis? Find out why Chicago Fire had Yuri Sardarov’s character die in the Chicago Fire season 8 premiere.
Why did Chicago Fire kill Otis? Many One Chicago fans have been asking that question following the Chicago Fire season 8 premiere, which revealed that Otis was the character who died in the show’s latest cliffhanger.
Chicago Fire showrunner and co-creator Derek Haas has explained that Yuri Sardarov, who played Otis, did not want to leave the show. Rather, it was the writers’ decision to kill off someone during the premiere, and they decided on the character of Otis.
The choice to have a death in the season premiere came from wanting to raise the stakes after the previous cliffhangers where characters have emerged from numerous dangerous situations being just fine.
Haas told TVLine that he and the show’s head writers, Andrea Newman and Michael Gilvary, had a desire to “put some teeth back into the show, and we’ve got to show that the dangers are real.”
Once they made the decision that someone would die, as he explained in our interview with him, Derek chose Otis because of his connections to almost everyone at the firehouse.
“Otis is beloved,” he explained. “He lives with Cruz and is best friends with Cruz and Brett, and he works with Herrmann and works under Casey and Boden, and it just felt like man, this would really hit the firehouse hard.”
Newest firefighter Darren Ritter (recurring guest star Daniel Kyri), who joined the house during last season, was also briefly considered but veteoed because as a guest character, his death wouldn’t be as impactful to the One Chicago audience.
Haas also revealed how Yuri Sardarov reacted to the news of Otis’s death, telling us that he was “exceptional, and gracious, and professional” about his character being written out.
Now fans know why did Otis die on Chicago Fire. And as painful as it is, the explanation makes an awful lot of sense. The show has been criticized by fans recently for not having consequences of its cliffhangers, particularly the one in season 5 when four characters were in another fire and all ended up fine (except for Mouch being technically dead for a few minutes off screen).
Viewers were asking for consequences, and now they have them—so while it’s heartbreaking, it also is the writers responding directly to one of the show’s recent issues.
Next. What else happened in Chicago Fire premiere?. dark
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