3 Chicago Fire characters who have no business being back for season 12

In the months since Chicago Fire season 11 wrapped, we’ve spent a good amount of time thinking about the characters we hope to see back in action when the show finally returns in 2024.

Season 12 left a lot of characters’ futures up in the air leaving us to hope that we’ll get more of the characters next season.

Severide has been missing for months after first leaving town to lead a training program. Casey popped the question to Brett, but we don’t yet know if she’ll accept the proposal or if Casey will stick around after asking Brett to marry him — nor do we know whether Brett might leave town to be with Casey. And then there was Mouch, who was last seen bleeding out in the hospital leaving us in a panic about whether he would survive the ordeal.

Needless to say, there are a lot of characters we want to see more of in season 12. However, there are also a number of characters we hope to have seen the last of.

No show does villains better than Chicago Fire. Season 11 featured many foils to the heroes of 51. While we understand every show needs a good villain or two to help serve as the catalyst for tension and drama in the season’s storylines, that doesn’t mean we want to see more of them — especially once their story has come to a natural end.

As we look ahead to Chicago Fire season 12, here are three characters who have no business being involved in the new season and who need to be left behind in season 11.

1. Emma Jacobs (Caitlin Carver)

We might have loved to hate Emma during her time on the show, but after her return in season 11 we’ve more than had enough of her character.

From the very moment we met Emma, it was clear there was something very off about her and she more than proved us right. Shortly after being assigned to 51, Emma tried to blackmail Violet and Hawkins in order to remain in place at 51. Luckily, her true colors came out on the job when she abandoned her partner while on a call which led to her being let go.

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We thought we had seen the last of Emma after she was fired, only for her to return in season 11 having taken a position at CFD’s IAD. Upon her return, Emma immediately began causing trouble again but, fortunately, when Violet discovered recorded memos from Hawkins exposing Emma’s blackmail scheme she was fired from the CFD for good.

We don’t usually oppose characters returning, but Emma has no business being a part of the season 12 narrative and we hope to never have to see the character again.

2. Keith Bamford (Chris McKenna)

Much like Emma, we knew Keith Bamford was trouble the minute he walked into 51. Bamford was introduced in season 11 as a floater brought to 51 to help fill the void left on Squad 3 when Cruz took over as leader of the team following Severide’s unexpected departure to lead the OFI training out of state.

Right out of the gate on his first day at the house, he began causing chaos with his pranks and rude comments made about other members of the 51 family. It was his comments made about his colleagues that led to his downfall with Cruz giving him the boot after Bamford targeted Herrmann’s wife, Cindy, making tasteless remarks about Cindy.

While Bamford wasn’t aware of Cindy’s cancer battle, the comments were totally distasteful and we were so thrilled when Cruz requested his removal from Squad 3. We’re all for redemption arcs, but we would be happy to never see Bamford again and definitely don’t want to see him back in season 12.

3. Shep (Eric Petersen)

Chicago Fire has been known to bring characters from the previous season back to continue storylines in the next season. We generally love this about the show, but if there is one character we don’t need to see back next season after their storyline in season 12 it’s Shep.

Shep was a homeless man who became obsessed with Kidd after Truck 81 saved him on a call. While he at first seemed innocent, it quickly became clear he had developed an unhealthy obsession with Kidd eventually following her home after shift. Things went from bad to worse that night when Kidd called Carver for help, leading to a fight between the two men that led to Carver’s wrongful arrest.

Luckily, Kidd was able to get the charges dropped against Carver and help find Shep a home, which seemed to resolve the storyline and it needs to stay that way. We don’t need Shep returning in season 12 to pick up where he left off in causing unnecessary drama for Kidd and Carver, especially when both characters already have enough drama in their lives to deal with.

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