Chicago Fire winter premiere promo may have revealed massive Mouch spoiler

We were all a bit frustrated by the Chicago Fire fall finale. There was good stuff, to be clear, but a lot of the excitement going into the episode is whether Mouch (Christian Stolte) would be able to pass the captain test and set himself up for a major promotion.

The episode ended without giving fans a concrete answer, ensuring that we come back for the winter premiere in January. Here's the thing, though. Chicago Fire issued a promo for the winter premiere, and it may have spoiled what became of Mouch after he took the captain test.

Mouch is seemingly in a new Truck 81 role

It's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, but eagle-eyed viewers have theorized that Mouch is actually sitting in Truck 81 around the promo's five second mark. The veteran character appears to be sitting in the lieutenant seat of the truck, which is a spot and title typically occupied by Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo).

The scene right sees Herrmann (David Eigenberg) give the team a pep talk, which feels like a purposeful bit of editing on the part of the franchise. Herrmann, after all, took the Captain test alongside Mouch, and the two men were last seen encouraging one another to do their best.

Now there could be some wishful thinking on the part of fans. It's not clear who is sitting in the lietenant seat, but it does not appear to be Kidd. Which is what makes the cut right after the five second mark so perplexing. Kidd can be seen stepping out of Truck 81 from the lietenant seat. So what gives?

Stella Kidd occupies the lieutenant's chair on Truck 81

Well, there could be a couple things at play here. There's a distinct possibility that Mouch does not get to sit in the lieutenant chair at all, and that our eyes are merely deceiving us. There's also a chance that Mouch does fill in, however, in the event that Kidd is unable to heed a particular call.

Chicago Fire has been known to pull footage from other episodes to make a promo appear a particular way, or to throw viewers off the scent of what the real story of a given episode could be, but it's rare that the show outright teases the inclusion of characters who won't be present. Stella Kidd is glimpsed in the promo, so we are confident she will be present.

We can't wait to find out why Mouch appears to be in a different spot than normal, though. We're getting the sneaking suspicion that the character may have passed his captain text after all.