Fear not, Mouch did not quietly leave Chicago Fire, though I certainly understand why you might be worried about his future on the show after watching the latest episode of the series.
Fans tuning into Chicago Fire season 15, episode 6, were quick to take notice that Christian Stolte did not appear in the episode. Searches immediately spiked with questions about whether Mouch had quietly been written out of the show, and the fear was understandable given that the 300th episode one week prior served as the final episode for longtime cast member Joe Minoso.
While Mouch did not appear in the episode, he’s not going anywhere! This seems to be an instance in which the show simply felt that Mouch was not needed for the stories being told in the episode, and the writers opted to sideline the character for an episode. This is a common tactic for the One Chicago shows, as series regulars no longer appear in every episode, which means that the writers have to craft a few episodes every season that sideline certain core members of the cast.
Sometimes the show will explain a character’s absence away via a quick conversation between two characters, but there are other times when a character will just not be featured in an episode without any explanation at all to address their absence. This was the case with Mouch in episode 6, as there was no conversation in the episode to explain why Mouch was not on shift; he just simply did not appear in the episode, which put a big focus on the probies and on Violet.
The timing of Stolte’s absence was certainly unfortunate, coming right off the departure of Minoso. Whenever a character just disappears right after a high-profile exit, there is a natural tendency for fans to fear the worst about their future. That was certainly the case with Stolte this week, and the show opting not to acknowledge Mouch’s absence definitely did not help ease fans’ minds.
Thankfully, Mouch will be back, though we don’t yet know whether he’ll return in episode 7, which will be airing on November 18, or if Mouch might be sidelined for back-to-back weeks.
There was no sign of Mouch in the promo for episode 7, and there is also no direct mention of Mouch in the synopsis for the episode. What we do know from the promo and synopsis is that the episode will center around a series of suspicious propane tank explosions, with Vasquez and Kidd playing a major role in the episode.
Hopefully, even if he’s not a central part of the episode, Mouch will return, and this will be a one-off break for Stolte. However, there is a chance we could see Mouch sidelined again. We'll have to wait for the episode photos to be released to know for certain whether he might return in episode 7 or if we’ll go another week without Stolte, so stay tuned for updates. The one thing we can confirm, though, is that Mouch will be back and has not left the show!
Chicago Fire airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on NBC.
Add us as a preferred source on Google