The fall finale for Chicago Fire is upon us and you know major twists and revelations are ahead. As the show nears its final episode of 2019, Severide and Kidd are in the best place they’ve ever been. HollywoodLife talked EXCLUSIVELY with Miranda Rae Mayo at NBC’s Fall and Midseason Lunch on Nov. 11 and she revealed Stellaride’s future is looking pretty bright. “They are so sturdy right now,” Miranda told HollywoodLife. “I think fans are so happy about it, I am so happy about it, and it is so refreshing considering where their relationship has been. In their relationship, we have seen him spiral and she is the rock for him but we haven’t really seen too much in their relationship where she is spiraling and he is the sturdy foundation that is the constant. Like, even if you’re falling apart, I got you. We get to see that in a really beautiful way.”
Stella had been pursuing being a leader in the CFD and that journey will continue to unfold. “Bowden gives her the opportunity to teach at the fire academy, which is another foundational step towards being a leader in the CFD,” Miranda continued. “She’s so excited. Once she gets there she realizes that it is not just one class and that it is a little more physically involved then she thought it would be. Plus, she is managing Molly’s and is also in this wonderful relationship with Severide and that takes time, nurturing, and energy. She is still a firefighter and in one of the busiest houses in Chicago, so we see her really try to muscle through and validate the belief that Bowden has in her, and while she is doing that, we kind of see how she has bitten off maybe a little more than she can chew. So essentially we see all of that come to a head and in ways that she never would have thought that it would affect her. It’s dramatic, it’s heartbreaking, so we see everything come to a head and how she deals with that and how Bowden deals with that.”
The fall finale will feature the return of Gabby Dawson, who was last seen in the season 7 premiere. HollywoodLife asked Miranda what fans can expect from this major return.
“I think the two characters that are affected the most are Brett and Casey. We witness them doing this dance of managing their emotions and I think they both are trying not to get too excited, too attached, and they’re also feeling a little confused from the emotional adventure that they have been dancing in with each other. I am so excited to watch it on screen because they are both phenomenal actors, so when we were shooting it you could totally see all of it where Casey is thrilled to see her [Dawson] and there’s a part of him that is like, ‘You broke my heart!’ We never really saw him process it which I think is very true to a lot of firefighters’ realities and the emotional stress they endure and go through with the job. They just file it away and don’t really tend to it and so I think it was very masterful how Jesse [Spencer] played with all of that, where you could see this dance of emotions flurry across his eyes when she comes back.” Chicago Fire season 8 airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on NBC.