‘Chicago Fire’: David Eigenberg on Herrmann’s Captain Test & Potential Boden Appearance

When Boden (Eamonn Walker) moved up in the CFD at the end of Chicago Fire Season 12, he tapped Herrmann (David Eigenberg) to be his successor. However, then Dermot Mulroney was cast as the new chief, Pascal.

That surprise was cleared up in the Season 13 premiere, when it was revealed that Herrmann had back luck and got sick before the captain’s test. But he plans to take it the next time it comes up—which it is. Below, Eigenberg looks ahead to Herrmann’s possible future.

How is Herrmann feeling about taking the captain test and how prepared he is?

David Eigenberg: He’s not prepared. He’s got a wife and kids. He’s not very focused of a human being. He’s focused when the chips are down. He’s a little bit like my mother and father in real life. When the chips were down, they were there for each other and the rest of the time it was a maelstrom. So I think he’s a little bit in that vein. And nothing goes easy for the character, Herrmann, and self-confidence is not his strong suit, although he can be blustery and blowing and he knows what’s right. I think the character knows what’s right. He doesn’t always know what’s the exact right thing to do, and he has to be steered by other people. And I think that’s a wonderful piece of the show that I’ve had the privilege to work with, work on, portray that element. I like that. Not that I’m a loose cannon in real life.

What’s his take on Pascal as he’s getting to know him as chief?

Like a lot of the characters on this show and then real life, it’s hard to separate sometimes. I mean, sometimes you have to separate in your acting jobs to who you’re working with and who they are, and do you want to get to know them? And that’s just life, like anything. But Dermot walked into an incredibly difficult scenario really. We heard, because we all talk, we’re all kibitzers and we’re going on with this, what’s going on with that? It’s a wonderful thing. We were casting whatever, it took a while. And then Dermot got it, and then he was finishing up a film on the ocean on a boat, and he got off the boat and there was a problem with—he rented a car with he and his son and drove here and was here when they needed him and passionate. And he’s passionate about the show.

We had a young person visiting the show recently who has developmental challenges and a wonderful young man. And he loved the show and Dermot saw all of us with this young man. And after the young man left after a half hour, he was blown away. He got choked up. He was like, “You are tremendous people to bring that young person into the fold here”… because he’s a sensitive, caring man. That’s a long story to your question.

But it’s interesting because Dermot plays his character—I think he’s written more, he’s an acerbic character in a rule follower, but that character has genuine concern for these characters. We shot a couple of takes or something. We’re like “Are we”—he’s doing this kind of thing that’s like nudge-y, but, “A0re we allowed to like him, the character, the characters allowed to that character?” They were like, “Yes.” And it wasn’t written on the page, but there’s a lot of things that aren’t written in the page of this show, and I think it’s what’s made it rich. So we’ll see what happens. They’re kind of like, I don’t know, but I love working with him. I’m working with him tomorrow morning. I was working on another scene with him and I was like, I wonder where I’m going to put this. So we will see.

It seems like obviously once Herrmann is chief, it has to be a 51, but then there’s the Pascal of it. So is Herrmann even thinking that far ahead yet?

I don’t think he does. He loves the firehouse. He does not want to leave the firehouse. He wants to finish out his career. I don’t know how many years left he has. We just have to see. It’s not going to be detrimental because Herrmann, the character, always has—a blackjack. It’s a stick with a piece of leather on the end of it, wrapped in leather. You got a blackjack and he’ll blackjack anybody that gets in the way of the humanity and the safety of anybody on 51. So I don’t think that Pascal’s going to be in that place and not that Herrmann’s watching him, but I think Herrmann would crush him if it got—because we were sussing him out. It takes time to know somebody.

Is anything coming up for Herrmann and Cindy?

I adore Robyn Coffin. She’s been popping in a bit. I adore their relationship. She’s a wonderful human being, a wonderful actor. We had a lot of fun doing early [in the season when] they actually had some passion and she took him upstairs, and it was wonderful. And I couldn’t be happier doing that kind of work with Robyn and those two characters. And she’s back at it and she’s always a step away from stepping on his neck because Herrmann is a little bit unmoored.

What kind of chief do you think Herrmann will be when that time comes? Is he going to take what he learned from Boden? Figure out his own way?

I mean, the old school fire department, which is I think what we depict because there’s been a little bit of a shift and it’s modern life, 2024, 2022, there’s a little bit of a hyper PC element in the real fire department and they’re old school about we will do anything to take care of our people. And that’s what the show is about. So sometimes they won’t do what the manual says when it’s not the right thing. And that jeopardizes people’s standing. It jeopardizes people’s lives, but it doesn’t jeopardize in terms of storyline on the TV show, it’s what doesn’t jeopardize people’s lives, the characters’ lives. And that is first and foremost.

We know how close Herrmann and Boden are, and it’s not like Boden moved away. He’s still in Chicago. He is still working at the CFD. Are we going to be hearing anything about the two of them talking? Is it possible that we’ll be seeing Boden coming up for Herrmann?

I have been told that it will be, but I don’t know that because it hasn’t been in an actual stack of papers that I’ve read yet. I want it to happen badly as soon as possible. I want him back here with us and we just have to wait and see.