Chicago Fire season 14 is quite a season of change for the long-running firefighter drama! Ahead of the season premiere, word broke that the show would be losing three key members of the cast with Daniel Kyri, Jake Lockett, and Michael Bradway exiting the show for various reasons.
Of the trio, Kyri is the only one who returned for season 14; however, his time on the show is coming to an end, and it’s coming to an end very soon.
Yes, Daniel Kyri is leaving Chicago Fire
Ahead of the season 13 finale, it was announced that NBC would not be extending the contracts of Jake Lockett and Daniel Kyri. Both actors’ contracts ended with season 13 and the pair were let go from the show as part of cost-cutting measures. In fact, Deadline’s original report directly noted that the decision as “part of an effort to trim the budget” on the show.
This sadly is not an uncommon occurrence for shows, especially shows such as Chicago Fire which have been on air for as long as the show has. The longer a show goes on, the higher production costs can run, which leads shows to make difficult decisions regarding its cast. This often leads to cast shake ups, with original or long-time actors being let go in an effort to save money.
Lockett's exit from the show was set up in the season 13 finale when we learned he would be moving to Denver to get a fresh start. However, there was no indication that Ritter was leaving the show in the season finale. This led many fans to worry that his character would be written out of the show off-screen, rather than getting a proper send-off.
Daniel Kyri returned to Chicago Fire in a limited capacity
Rather than writing Ritter out of the show via an off-screen exit, Chicago Fire managed to get Daniel Kyri to return for a limited time to film a proper send-off for Ritter. The catch being that Kyri's return was extremely limited.
Filming on season 14 began around July 25, and Kyri wrapped filming on the season on August 13, meaning he only filmed scenes for about two weeks.
“Yesterday, I filmed my last scenes as Ritter,” Kyri revealed in a goodbye post commemorating his last day of filming on the show. “I’m still so amazed that my first-ever TV gig—a role that was originally meant for just three episodes—turned into seven incredible years (SEVEN?!?!! Whatttt???!) and spanned eight seasons of this iconic show! While I know I may never find another cast and crew as amazing as this one, I intend to carry what I’ve learned from you to every set in the future.”
Given that Kyri only filmed for about two weeks, that suggests he was only present for filming on the first few episodes of the season, which was expected when it was revealed he would be coming back in a limited role. In fact, we imagine that his final episode could be episode 2 or episode 3 at the latest.
Ritter is likely to move to New York to be with Dwayne as his exit storyline on Chicago Fire
In the season 14 premiere, Ritter reveals that he and Dwayne started texting again and have grown close following his move to New York. Ritter tells Violet and Novak that he’s actually started to think that Dwayne is the one again, but then Dwayne stopped replying to his messages.
After he missed a planned FaceTime call in which he was going to show him his new apartment in the city, Ritter becomes worried that something has happened and asks Mouch to have Trudy look into things. Trudy learns that Dwayne was shot in the line of duty and was rushed to the hospital for surgery. Once this news is relayed to Ritter, he races off to New York to be with Dwayne. Thankfully, Dwayne pulls through the surgery and it’s implied he’ll make a recovery.
Given the storyline introduced in the premiere, it seems that the writers are going to have Ritter leave Chicago and move to New York to be with Dwayne. While it’s disappointing to see Ritter leaving the show, it’s honestly a perfect storyline in that it gives him a happy ending in reuniting him with Dwayne. It also keeps the door open for him to return down the line for a guest appearance or even in a recurring role!