Chicago Fire gets season 12 release date (and it’s very soon!)

One Chicago continues to surprise us. A week after announcing that Chicago Fire star Kara Killmer would be leaving the show in the upcoming season, NBC has decided to reveal the official return date for the Fire and the rest of the titles in the franchise. It’s even sooner than we expected!

It was widely assumed that Chicago Fire and its peer shows would be airing on NBC in February, since that was the month designated by ABC and its various procedural dramas. It made sense, given how much work the show still needed before it would be up and running, and how much time it would need to produce an entire (albeit abbreviated) season of television.

When does Chicago Fire season 12 premiere?

Well, it turns out we were all wrong. Chicago Fire will not be returning in February, but in January! Chicago Fire, Chicago Med and Chicago PD will all be returning to NBC on Wednesday, January 17, and the franchise sharing a universe with One Chicago, Law & Order, will be airing its three shows the following night.

TV Line confirmed the scheduling return, which is exciting on multiple levels. For one, it means fans will have one less month to wait for new Chicago Fire episodes. For another, it means that NBC has decided to keep the One Chicago Wednesday lineup intact after considering some lineup changes in 2023.

There was a brief period of time where NBC thought about transitioning to local news earlier in the evening, which would have meant that a One Chicago title would have had to move to another night. Thankfully, the idea was abandoned, and the core Wednesday night lineup was kept intact.

While the TV Line report failed to mention the number of episodes that Chicago Fire season 12 will have, previous reports suggest that it will fall between 10-13, which will make it the shortest season yet. The season premiere will reveal whether or not Killmer’s character, Sylvie Brett, said yes to the proposal put forth by Matt Casey (Jesse Spencer). It will also set up the return of Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) after his auspicious exit in season 11.

The announcements regarding Killmer’s exit and Kinney’s return have made their character arcs easy to guess, but the one that fans will likely have to wait to find out about is Mouch (Christian Stolte). The character was last seen bleeding in the hospital, and the actor who plays him hasn’t said a word about whether he will be returning for season 12. Keep your fingers crossed.

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