‘Chicago Fire’ Boss Talks Stellaride Conflict & Mystery About Damon

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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Chicago Fire Season 12 Episode 11 “Inside Man.”]

For its 250th episode, Chicago Fire took a page out of Die Hard‘s book: Men break into Firehouse 51 and steal Truck 81—but unbeknownst to them, Severide (Taylor Kinney) hopped on it!

The firefighters, of course, call in the CPD, and during the investigation, Ritter (Daniel Kyri) shares his suspicions about the newest recruit, Damon (Michael Bradway), who has been very vocal about his love for the firehouse (but lied about taking one of Severide’s classes at the academy) and has a reason he’s not sharing for being there. In other words, 51 is not having an easy time replacing Gallo (Alberto Rosende) or Brett (Kara Killmer); Violet (Hanako Greensmith) has brought Novak (Jocelyn Hudon) in full-time but she’s still very much a question mark.

“New characters also bring out new sides of all of 51’s residents, so it’s been a lot of fun to play with these new additions and see how the changes affect everybody,” executive producer Andrea Newman tells TV Insider. “As Severide said in Episode 1208, ‘Not everyone is cut out for 51,’ it’s the best of the CFD and a unique place. The bar is high!  But it remains to be seen how the two newest additions, Novak and Damon, will evolve. They have lots of surprises in store.”

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With Ritter voicing his concerns, now Damon is aware he’s being watched—and we can’t help but be worried by the end of this episode. “Ritter definitely has his radar up for Damon, and now vice-versa,” confirms Newman. “Damon still has a lot of layers to peel back, and he gets in some big trouble in the next episodes.  At the same time, he’s being drawn towards Novak… so we’ll just have to see how that affects what happens with him!”

The good news: After a shaky start to the season, due to his time investigating arson cases, Severide and Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) have been in a much better place (and continue to be so in this episode, with her leading the charge to find him and it ending with them in bed).

But there’s “more conflict and surprises ahead! Imminently!” warns Newman. “Relationships are always complicated, but especially when you work so closely in a life-and-death job. Severide and Kidd are deeply in love, and the heat is always on between them, but that just makes it more explosive when conflicts arise.”

Chicago Fire, Wednesdays, 9/8c, NBC