Chicago Fire season 9 character preview: Kelly Severide

What should happen

Season 8 managed to keep Kelly Severide’s social life—specifically his romantic life—from turning into a sideshow, and Chicago Fire season 9 needs to do the same. His love life has become much less interesting to watch than it must be for the writers to write. Seeing him in a stable place with Stella may not have been exciting TV but it was what the character needed after an endless cycle of exes, bad flings and generally immature behavior.

Without his romantic drama to focus on, that would mean the series has to give Severide some more professional storylines, and that’s not going to be easy. It’s already teased him with the idea of promotion, and it sent him to work in another department, so what’s left? But there don’t have to be big changes for him to have a career-oriented story.

We could see him in more of a support role, as we did in season 8, where he takes more interest in what’s going on with the other people around him. His stories with Joe Cruz (Joe Minoso) and Capp (Randy Flagler) were great. Maybe he changes the way he leads Rescue Squad, or he learns a new technique or two from somebody else. Not everything in Kelly’s plot needs to come from his past or his personal life. He’s looking forward and the writers can do that for him, too.