Chicago Fire: Is Severide going to come back in season 12?

The plot thickens with regards to Severide’s future. The character has been written off Chicago Fire for the time being, due to actor Taylor Kinney requesting a leave of absence, and while it is assumed that he will return, there has been no confirmation that this will be the case.

Severide was technically written out of the show offscreen, with other characters explaining that he is out of town and attending an arson investigation training program. There wasn’t a concrete date given as to when the program would be over, which felt a bit like the writers giving themselves leeway in case Kinney’s return takes longer than initially planned.

Is Taylor Kinney coming back in Chicago Fire season 12?

The announcement of Chicago Fire season 12 has complicated matters further. It’s been revealed that the show will be limiting the appearances of their main cast members in an effort to limit the budgets of each episode. This means, in essence, that characters who appear in every episode will instead be seen in 18-20 episodes.

While this change will impact the entire cast, its most intriguing when paired with Kinney’s situation. The actor will is already gone for an undetermined time, and the writers will be needing reasons to cut character screen time down wherever (and however) they can. Is it possible that the show decides to keep Severide out of the picture, longer, as a means of keeping salary costs down?

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It’s very possible. We’re not suggesting that there will be efforts to keep him out of the show as a whole if Kinney decides to return, but we could see a situation in which the character is kept out of the first handful of episodes, and then brought in to season 12 so that he be a major force for the rest.

The speculation surrounding Severide’s return will gain even more steam if he’s kept out of the season 11 finale. Of course, if the writers do decide to bring him back, and his reunion with Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) is the driving force of the finale, then there will be a separate issue of how to limit his appearances within season 12.

It’ll be interesting to see how this requirement will be met down the line.

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