Is Taylor Kinney leaving Chicago Fire season in 12?

We all know the basics at this point: Severide (Taylor Kinney) has left Chicago Fire to participate in an arson investigation program. He’s out of the city, and he’s going to be missing the season 11 finale.

What the One Chicago fans want to know is whether or not Severide will be coming back at all. Will the character return and resume his position at the 51 in season 12, or have we seen the last of him in a firefighter’s uniform? Let’s investigate.

Is Severide leaving Chicago Fire season 12?

For one, Taylor Kinney still appears to be on the leave of absence that sparked his exit in the first place. He has been traveling with his girlfriend, posting romantic photos on Easter, and attending racing events throughout the country, as evidenced by the posts on his girlfriend’s Instagram.

We were all hoping that the actor would be able to drop in for at least a cameo in the season 11 finale, but the news of Jesse Spencer returning to the show as Casey effectively overshadowed the fact that Kinney would be missing the episode altogether.

Now, there are a few practical reasons why this may be the case. For one, whatever sparked the actor’s leave of absence may not yet be resolved, in which case it would make sense that he would not yet commit to returning to the show full time.

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Secondly, NBC has ordered budget cuts for the 12th season of Chicago Fire, meaning that central cast members will be written in such a way that they will miss 3-4 episodes. It’s very possible that the writers don’t want to go through the hassle of bringing Severide back just to write him off for an additional handful of episodes, so there is a strong case to be made that the character will be returning 3-4 episodes into season 12 so that he can remain on full-time.

Regardless of what the game plan is, the fact that we didn’t get a proper sendoff between Severide and the rest of the cast members has us convinced that he’ll be brought back at some point, even if it is just to say goodbye.

For the latest Chicago Fire season 11 spoilers and news, plus more on the entire series, follow the Chicago Fire category at One Chicago Center.