Kelly Severide is leaving the Windy City once again to work on an arson case. The firefighter, played by Taylor Kinney, who recently returned to Chicago Fire's Firehouse 51, received documents from Office of Fire Investigation Captain Van Meter about an ATF case in Tucson, Arizona.
While he initially told the captain that he wasn't working on fire investigations at the moment, saying it was "a tricky time", Van Meter tried to persuade him, praising his talent and ability when it comes to ATF cases.
Later on, Severide's wife Stella confronts him about the job. "I don't want you to feel trapped," she said. "I want you to go, but if you go MIA on me, if you leave me in the dark..."
Reassuring her, Severide said: "Let me show you I can handle a case like this and come back home to you."
After being reminded that Stella isn't the only one whose permission he should ask, the firefighter has a conversation with Cruz. "I won't go unless you're good with it," he told him, adding: "There's no one else I would trust with the squad."
Having been given the green light from both Cruz and Stella, Severide leaves in a cab. As he and his wife say their goodbyes, he promises to fix the sink when he gets back – perhaps an indication that he won't be gone for too long.
While we don't know how long Severide will be away from Firehouse 51, rest assured that showrunner Andrea Newman isn't prepared to let him go for good.
While chatting with HELLO! about the possibility of a spinoff show that would see Severide working with the OFI full-time, Andrea said the character is "crucial".
"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," Andrea said, adding that "OFI is a great internal struggle" for Kelly which makes it a great arc for the character.
"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," Andrea continued.
"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."
Chicago Fire airs on Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on NBC.