The countdown to Chicago Fire season 15 is quite bittersweet. On one hand, we can’t wait to have our favorite firefighter drama back with new episodes to enjoy; however, we know that with the show’s return comes the departure of one of the show’s few remaining original characters: Joe Cruz.
Cruz has been an integral part of the show for over a decade, and it’s impossible to imagine Chicago Fire without him. We’ve watched him grow so much through the years, making the jump from Truck 81 to Squad 3, blossoming into a leader, becoming an entrepreneur with the creation of the Slamigan, and maturing into a family man who is now a proud father of two with twins on the way.
It feels like there is still so much story to tell for Cruz, but alas we will bid farewell to the character early in season 15 with the departure of Joe Minoso.
Knowing that Minoso is leaving the show, fans are anxious to see how the character will be written out and there is an understandable fear that he could be killed off the show. After all, Cruz was among those in grave danger as the season ended and the show is long overdue a major death to open the season.
There have been many mixed signals thus far regarding what will happen to Cruz with some behind-the-scenes photos hinting that Cruz will survive and others leaving us to fear the worst. However, new comments from Chicago Fire’s new showrunner seem to hint that the creative team has planned something no one will see coming.
While new showrunner Victor Teran is keeping things close to the vest, he revealed to TVLine that the planned storyline for Cruz will be quite “unexpected,” and that what happens to Cruz isn’t what you might be thinking.
Considering the thing we’ve all been thinking is that Cruz is getting killed off, the tease that they have an unexpected exit storyline planned almost makes us breathe a sigh of relief. After all, if Teran is promising the storyline isn’t what we expect, that seems to suggest our fears that the show will kill Cruz off in the opening moments will not be the case and that Cruz is going to leave for another reason.
This is certainly a relief as we’ve hated even considering the idea that Chicago Fire might kill Cruz, but it does make us wonder what might be planned. One storyline we have wondered about is a possible relocation for the Cruz family.
We know that Cruz had booked a trip to Honduras so that Javi could reconnect with his roots. It was never made clear whether Cruz and Javi took that trip before the events of the season 14 finale, but perhaps it’s a trip that Cruz takes after the near-death experience during the time jump we know is coming. Perhaps they discover more than expected during the trip and decide to move to give Javi the chance to get to know a relative he never knew he had and spend time where his family originated. That’s exactly the kind of thing Cruz and Chloe would do for their son, and it would certainly constitute an unexpected storyline!
We’ll see what exactly the writers have in store for Cruz soon enough, and we can't wait to see how the writers address Minoso’s exit!
Chicago Fire season 15 premieres Wednesday, October 7, at 9/8c on NBC.
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