What S12 episode will Chicago Fire introduce its new firefighter?

Things are moving fast on Chicago Fire. Fans were still getting used to Derrick Gibson (Rome Flynn), the firefighter brought in to replace Blake Gallo (Alberto Rosende), but the character departed after just six (!) episodes. Now, we will all have to acclimate to another new firefighter.

The good news? He will be arriving soon. We're officially on the second half of season 12, given that the Hollywood strikes shortened the usual episode count, and Chicago Fire is wasting no time setting up the next crop of firefighters and medics who will be driving storylines. The new firefighter, Jack Damon, will be played by Michael Bradway, and he will be debuting on the show on May 1st.

Jack Damon will debut on the May 1st episode

NBC has not released a synopsis or promo photos for season 12, episode 10. The network did put out a promo that showed the firefighting team struggle to rescue a man from a freak car accident. It did not feature, however, any sign or mention of Damon.

It's possible the network wants to keep the information surrounding Jack Damon a secret for as long as possible, hence the fact that we've been told nothing about his backstory or his connection to any of the other firefighters. What we do know, however, is that Chicago Fire is hoping to keep him around for a while.

The Deadline article that broke the news stated that Michael Bradway will be listed as a recurring role at first, but there's a good chance that he could be promoted to series regular by the time season 13 rolls around. This makes sense, given that the show was unable to keep the character of Gibson for more than a handful of episodes.

It will be Michael Bradway's first TV role

While Dick Wolf Productions generally likes to cast actors who have been on other procedural shows in the past, Bradway is a relative newcomer to the scene. He's never made a guest appearance on a Law & Order or FBI spinoff, and he only has a few credits to his name, according to IMDb.

He's been in two short films, Piece (2021) and Tino (2022), as well as an upcoming romance titled Marked Men with Alexander Ludwig. With this in mind, we're excited to see what the young actor is able to bring to the character of Damon and the franchise as a whole.