After weeks of anticipation, Chicago Fire fans are finally about to meet Chief Pascal’s replacement.
Chicago Fire season 14, episode 16, “Firehouse 66,” will welcome Rob Morgan to the cast in the role of Chief Hopkins, whose arrival is sure to shake things up at Firehouse 51. After Chief Pascal was relieved from active duty for conduct unbecoming, Chief Hopkins will be stepping in as 51’s new acting chief, and it’s clear that he’s not going to be a character fans will warm up to quickly.
Chief Hopkins has a bit of a reputation within the CFD as being a hardass, and we immediately picked up on this in the promo for the episode. The first clips of Hopkins saw him questioning Severide’s pursuit of becoming a captain in the CFD and pushing all the right buttons to leave Severide ready for a fight. It seems that he’s not exactly going to make it easy for Severide to rise through the ranks, and we’re not sure if we’re fully prepared for Hopkins’ arrival.
Hopkins and Severide are not going to get off on the right foot, but perhaps Severide will have the chance to win his new chief over with his work in the field. The first photos of episode 16 have arrived, and it’s clear that Hopkins is going to be taking stock of the firefighters at 51 who are now under his command.
In the trio of photos released by NBC, we see Hopkins out in the field alongside Severide and Squad 3 as they respond to a scene at a gravesite. The first photo shows Hopkins, Severide, Capp, and Cruz standing around an open grave looking down into it. We see what appears to be some form of heavy machinery, perhaps a backhoe loader or a mini excavator, poking out of the grave, hinting that their victim was perhaps injured in an accident while the grave was being prepared.
A second photo (pictured above) gives us a close-up angle of Severide and Hopkins looking down into the grave, while a third photo gives us a glimpse of what appears to be an intense conversation between Hopkins and Severide. In this final photo, Severide seems to be preparing to be lowered into the grave to tend to the victim, and we get a sense that Hopkins might not be in support of the plan.
It’s definitely interesting to see Hopkins joining Squad 3 on the call, and we have a feeling he’s doing so in order to get a true assessment of how they operate. Considering we know that Hopkins likes to throw his weight around and assert his authority, it’s going to be interesting to see if we’ll see this in the field.
Severide isn’t used to being second-guessed on call, and we’re sure he won’t take kindly to Hopkins coming in and questioning how he operates. On the other hand, perhaps seeing how efficient Severide and Squad 3 are will help Hopkins to realize the error of his ways and see that the CFD would be lucky to have a captain such as Severide.
We'll find out how the call goes down when Chicago Fire season 14, episode 16, premieres on Wednesday, April 1, at 9/8c on NBC.