Chicago Fire is winding down on season 9, and the last 3 episodes are going to be epic in scale. HollywoodLife spoke EXCLUSIVELY with showrunner Derek Haas about these last episodes of the season, especially the finale. Buckle up because Derek has been planning this finale for MONTHS.
“It’s going to be a giant episode,” Derek told HollywoodLife. “I think it’s going to start off a little bit more introspective as characters are talking about their where they are in their lives and what their hopes are for the future. And then it’s going to build like a freight train into the last 10 minutes, which are as big as anything we’ve done. In fact, I was telling someone else today that I had to write the last 10 pages of the finale back in January before 5 episodes that even been written because what we were planning was going to require so much technical and production design time to be able to produce it. I had to write it 4 months in advance.”
He also noted that the last 3 episodes of the season as a whole are “going to be super impactful across the board. We’re going to be throwing giant, life-altering swings in these last three [episodes].”
In the preview episode, Stella was heading to take her lieutenant’s exam. “We’ll find out the results very quickly. Not as quickly as Stella wants, but we’ve been building towards it the whole season,” Derek teased. He also added that “there are good things on the horizon” for Stella. “For her, there’s a lot of various impactful, life-changing decisions,” Derek continued. “One with regards to Kelly and where that relationship is going will be a big part of these last 3 episodes, and then also her career and what this lieutenant’s exam could potentially mean for her and her place at Firehouse 51 is another big issue.”
When HollywoodLife spoke with Miranda Rae Mayo, she brought up a major Stellaride moment. “There is a big event,” Derek confirmed. “We’re still Chicago Fire, so we’re not going to give the audience exactly what they want. We like to build up expectations and then surprise you.”
When asked whether this event is good or bad, Derek said, “Isn’t that interesting? What a great question. The audience would like to know, but they have to wait and see. I mean, what I love about the show over 9 seasons that I think is true is that you can’t always see exactly what’s going to happen. I think the sweet spot that we always try to hit is the difference between I didn’t see that coming, and I saw that coming. So it’s that I should have seen that, but then we surprise you. We surprise the audience sometimes where they thought something was going to go awful, and it turned out good. We surprised them where they thought something was going to be good, and it turned out tragic.”
Casey also has to reckon with his feelings for Brett after Grainger told Casey that Brett is in love with him. Derek said that conversation was a “hypnotist snap in Casey’s face” and proof that Brett “hasn’t really moved on. That’s going to be a driving force in these last 3 episodes.” He added, “I think that it would be a shame if this season did not provide some conversation between Casey and Bretty where they lay it all out on the line.” Chicago Fire airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on NBC.