From the moment it was announced that Joe Minoso would be exiting Chicago Fire early in season 15, fans immediately began to question when exactly his final episode would air. Speculation quickly began on when Cruz would be written out of the show as NBC kept the details of Minoso’s exit close to the vest regarding their plans.
As we inched closer to the season, speculation grew that Minoso would exit the series in the 300th episode, and it seems our theories have proven correct.
In a new interview with Soaps She Knows, Chicago Fire showrunner Victor Teran has confirmed that Minoso’s last episode of the show will indeed be the forthcoming 300th episode of the show. The 300th episode is set to air as the fifth episode of season 15, which should debut on NBC on Wednesday, November 4, at 9/8c.
“It is, actually. Yeah, we decided it just felt like a kind of poetic element to making the 300th his final episode for now,” Teran confirmed, hinting that the exit will leave the door open for Minoso to return down the line.
While Teran was not able to disclose much about the actual episode, he did make it clear that Cruz will be at the center of the episode with his exit serving as the heart of the 300th episode’s story. Of course, while the episode will focus heavily on Cruz and Minoso’s departure from the show, the milestone episode will look to go big with what Teran promises will be an “insane call” on a scale the show hasn’t seen in a long time.
“The exit was sort of the heart of it. Once we decided that’s how it was going to be, we really built it around that as a way to really honor him. But there is, in true Chicago Fire fashion, an insane call that will not disappoint, and we haven’t done a spectacle like this in a while, and so, we were excited to go after it,” he teased.
Knowing that the 300th episode will indeed be Minoso’s final episode, it’s going to be interesting to see how the show builds up to his sendoff in the coming weeks. With just a few episodes to set the stage for his departure, we’re certainly a little anxious about how the show will stick the landing; however, we have faith that they’ll use the episodes wisely in order to craft a storyline that honors both Minoso and his character.
It also only seems fitting that Minoso’s final episode be the show’s 300th, as there truly is no bigger platform to send him off than in the show’s milestone episode. Chicago Fire took a similar approach with its 200th episode, which served as the final episode for Jesse Spencer. We love that the writers are honoring Minoso in a similar fashion, as 15 seasons on a show is an incredible feat that deserves to be celebrated.
Cruz's final episode is sure to be a lot more bittersweet given the circumstances of his exit and the injury he sustained, but we're hoping that the sendoff will give the character a happy ending of some kind—even if it might not be the ending fans hoped for heading into season 15.
Chicago Fire airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on NBC.
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