Joe Cruz has been through a lot in the last few episodes of Chicago Fire. The character has had his past dug up and used against him as blackmail. It's a payoff to a season 1 story arc we did not see coming, and it's currently putting his career at risk.
It's a bad time to be Cruz, but it's a good time to be Joe Minoso, the actor who plays him. Minoso told Screen Rant that he was recently paid a visit by a former cast member on the set, and remains close friends with said cast member. Who, you might ask? None other than Otis himself, Yuri Sardarov.
Yuri Sardarov visited the season 13 set
Minoso told the outlet that Sardarov dropped by for a surprise visit during at the top of season 13. The actor hasn't been part of the Chicago Fire cast since season 8, but he remains a beloved face in the franchise. He also has stayed friendly with Minoso and the rest of the veteran cast.
"I think it was the beginning of the season," Minoso recalled. "He visited the set and got to see a lot of people and it brought up a lot of old feelings and just talk about nostalgia, man." The actor went on to praise Sardarov and assure fans that the Cruz and Otis bond continues, offscreen, to this day. "And so he's the absolute best human. I love him," the actor added. "I will always love him."
Joe Minoso considers Sardarov a close friend
Minoso also revealed some previously unknown information about his friendship with Sardarov. The most notable tidbit being that they were the last two actors cast for the Chicago Fire pilot. "Yuri and I were the last two cast on the show," he recalled. "Everybody had already been here for a week doing fireman camp stuff, and we came in on the last day of all of that and sort of got a crash course in everything together."
Minoso claims that they have tied at the hip ever since, and despite no longer working alongside each other on the show, the actor assures viewers that Otis' presence is still very important in the life of his character, Cruz. He named his son Otis, after all. The actor went as far as to say that there is no Cruz "without Otis," and the friendship they shared during the show's first eight seasons.
It's bittersweet, knowing that Otis is gone for good, but at least we can take solace in the fact that the Otis and Cruz friendship lives on in real life.