This fall, Chicago Fire will reach yet another major milestone in its run with the show’s 300th episode! Episode 300 will come early in the show’s upcoming 15th season, and as has often been the case for the show’s milestone episodes, expectations are high, as they should be.
Chicago Fire has a longstanding history of using its milestone episodes for major moments in the show’s run. The show’s 100th episode brought the long-awaited marriage of Casey and Dawson, while the show’s 200th served as Jesse Spencer’s farewell exit as Casey made the choice to leave Chicago to take care of the sons of his former 51 teammate Andy Darden, who died in the show’s first season. The 200th episode also welcomed the birth of Cruz and Chloe’s son, Otis, who, as fans know, died in season 8 as a result of injuries he sustained in a catastrophic mattress factory fire.
Heading into the upcoming season, fans have been speculating about what the creative team might have up their sleeves. Well, it seems that for the 300th episode, Chicago Fire might be about to bring back a character fans never expected to see again.
Otis might be returning for Chicago Fire’s 300th episode
You read that correctly; it seems that Chicago Fire could be about to bring Otis back for the 300th episode! While not yet confirmed by NBC, a recently posted casting call and details shared about the filming plan for the 300th episode seem to indicate that original cast member Yuri Sardarov may be dropping in for an unexpected cameo in the show’s 300th episode.
Ahead of filming on the 300th episode, Project Casting posted a series of casting calls looking for stand-in actors for an upcoming episode of Chicago Fire. This trio of stand-in postings included stand-in openings for SI Archer, SI Javi, and SI Otis, with the listings each seeking a stand-in to match the appearance of the character for upcoming production work. Now, often, these casting calls tend to use code names so as not to give away the exact identity of a character; however, it’s clear in looking at the character information for each of these castings that these do not appear to be code names but are the actual character names.
Each of these stand-in jobs comes with unique requirements, including an age range, height, and physical attributes that align directly with the characters from the One Chicago universe, including the posting for the stand-in for Otis, which is looking for an actor around 5'9", with a slim to medium build and dark hair, which fits the exact description of Sardarov.
Interestingly, the posting of these stand-in roles coincides with leaked information about the 300th episode from Chicago Fire fan account StellarideNews, which reported that the 300th episode will start with shooting on the Chicago Med and Molly’s bar sets. That report also noted that the scenes being filmed would include Archer and Cruz’s family, thus explaining why the show would be casting stand-in actors to play the roles of Archer and Javi.
Given that Otis was killed off back in season 8, we have to speculate that the 300th episode could serve as the final episode for Joe Minoso and that it could pull inspiration from Chicago Med’s “Altered States.” In that episode, as doctors raced to save Charles' life and those close to him reflected on the impact he’s had in their lives, Charles was confronted by ghosts of his past as the episode deployed dream sequences to bring back former characters as Charles fought to survive.
If Cruz is undergoing surgery and fighting for his life, it would honestly make perfect sense for him to see Otis in this scenario, and there’s no more perfect character to feature in a scene such as this. Otis was Cruz’s best friend, and he still carries the loss of Otis with him all these years later, so it would make perfect sense for Otis to visit him and give Cruz the push to carry on and fight to make it back to his family. It would also be a really special moment for Sardarov to return for the first time in seven years to appear in Minoso’s final episode on the show, giving fans the chance to see the two actors together again on-screen one last time.
It’s going to be hard to say goodbye to Cruz, but getting a moment between him and Otis is something we hadn’t even thought might be a possibility for his final episode. Knowing that it could very well be on the table is quite exciting and has us eager to see what the writers might have in store for the 300th episode when it airs this fall!
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