When Does Taylor Kinney Come Back to Chicago Fire Season 12? Severide Returning?

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After Severide’s second exit from Firehouse 51 in Season 12, One Chicago fans can’t help but wonder when Taylor Kinney is coming back to Chicago Fire and whether the fan favorite could be leaving One Chicago for good.

Kinney is one of five original cast members still left in Chicago Fire Season 12, along with David Eigenberg (Christopher Herrmann); Joe Minoso (Joe Cruz); Christian Stolte (Randall “Mouch” McHolland; and Eamonn Walker (Chief Wallace Boden.) Kinney made his debut as Kelly Severide — a lieutenant at Firehouse 51 and the officer in charge of Squad 3 —in the Chicago Fire pilot and remained on the series for more than 10 seasons until his sudden exit in Season 11.

At the time, Deadline reported that Kinney was taking a “leave of absence” from Chicago Fire to deal with a “personal matter.” The magazine also reported that the cast and crew were informed of Kinney’s leave a month before his final episode in Season 11 an that scripts were rewritten to accommodate his absence. After almost a year of no answers, news broke in October 2023 that Kinney was coming back as Severide in Chicago Fire Season 12 and that he would return as a full-time cast member.

Kinney made his grand return to Chicago Fire in the Season 12 premiere, “Barely Gone,” only to leave again two episodes later. Will this time be for good? Read on for what we know about when Taylor Kinney comes back to Chicago Fire and whether Season 12 is Severide’s swan song.

When does Taylor Kinney come back to Chicago Fire Season 12?

When does Taylor Kinney come back to Chicago Fire Season 12? Kinney’s Chicago Fire character, Lieutenant Kelly Severide, left Chicago Fire in Season 12, Episode 3, “Trapped” which saw Severide leave Firehouse 51 and his wife, Stella Kidd, to take an arson case  with the ATF. During their goodbye, Severide promised Kidd he would return back to home to Chicago after the case is over, unlike like in Season 11 when he went MIA after enrolling in an arson investigation program.

“That’s the plan,” Kidd says. “But if you go MIA on me again, if you leave me in the dark.” “I know,” Severide responds. In the final scene of the episode, Severide reassures Kidd that he’ll be back “soon” as they kiss goodbye.

So when does Taylor Kinney come back to Chicago Fire? While NBC hasn’t confirmed Kinney’s return date to Chicago Fire, we’ve deduced the timeline of when he could come back. Chicago Fire is expected to have 13 episodes in Season 12, according to a 2023 report by TVLine. The number is the same amount for Chicago P.D. Season 11 and Chicago Med Season 9. Given the shorter season this year due to the Writer’s Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes — Chicago Fire Season 11 had 22 episodes, in comparison — Kinney is expected to come back any time from now until the Chicago Fire Season 12 finale around May 2024. The best case scenario is that Kinney comes back to Chicago Fire in the next few episodes, while the worst is he doesn’t return until the Season 12 finale.

In an interview with Variety in January 2024, executive producer Andrea Newman confirmed that Severide will be “centerstage” in Chicago Fire Season 12, so there’s a high chance Kinney could come back sooner. “He’s back, is what I’ll say. It’s a shortened season, but he’s back and Severide’s centerstage in this season,” she said when asked whether Kinney was back full time.

She also teased Severide and Kidd’s relationship throughout Chicago Fire Season 12, especially after he went missing in Season 11. “There’s a whole new dynamic between them. The heat and the sexual tension are as high as ever. They can’t keep their hands off each other, as usual, and yet, there’s this new dynamic that is present between them, something we haven’t seen before. I think Violet had a line that was something like, ‘It’s like watching two big cats circling each other, you’re not sure what’s going to happen next,'” she said. “There’s an edge in the air between them but the main case OFI case, which is the big case that Severide’s been dealing with, is going to bring up a lot of tension between them and explore what’s been happening these last six months and what they’ve been going through.”

In an interview with Hello! in January 2024, Newman hinted that Severide is here to stay. During the interview, she revealed that Chicago Fire spin-off centered around Severide’s OFI career was discussed before the creators realized that he was “too critical” for Firehouse 51 to let go. “We have [considered it] but having lost Severide for a bit [in season 11,] it was a reminder of what a critical part of 51 he is,” she said, adding “OFI is a great internal struggle” for Severide, which makes him a great character on Chicago Fire.

She continued, “As Kidd says early on in the episode, she considers arson as his ‘drug,’ and it’s an addiction for him and he gets lost in it. It’s partly because it’s in the blood, his dad was also in OFI, but partly because there’s something that just taps into something deep within him when he gets into it. It then becomes a danger zone for him in some ways – but he also loves it and obviously has the skills for it. So that struggle will be a big part of the first few episodes of the season.”

Newman also teased Kidd and Kinney’s new relationship. “They’re very much in love, obviously – it’s obvious within two seconds of the premiere that they can’t keep their hands to themselves! – but there’s definitely a new element to this relationship and we get to see that play out and see the journey of getting through that and how that affects them,” she said.

Newman first sparked rumors Kinney was leaving Chicago Fire for good in an interview with Parade in January 2024 in which she discussed Severide’s feud with Joe Cruz since returning to Firehouse 51. “Kidd isn’t the only one who was rocked by Severide’s disappearance last year,” she said. “Cruz sacrificed a lot when he stepped up as acting lieutenant for his mentor and friend. Now Severide has to figure out a way to make things right, or Cruz will move on. Some major decisions will be made by all three characters—Kidd, Severide and Cruz—in episode 3, and by the end of it, one of them will be heading out of Chicago.”

Chicago Fire is available to stream on Peacock.

For more on Taylor Kinney, check out our gallery on the TV shows and movies you didn’t know the Chicago Fire star was also on.

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