“She Believed in Herself Enough”: ‘Chicago Fire’ Showrunner Explains Stella’s Pregnancy Twist

Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) and Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) had been looking to expand their family throughout Chicago Fire Season 13. The couple considered numerous routes, each coming with its challenges. However, the season finale delivered some surprising news for them when Stella revealed she was pregnant. Pregnancy had been a touchy subject since it would have profound effects on her. “They both had, especially Kidd, some real issues and hesitations around it, and it didn’t feel right to have her just jump into it from the start. Severide was ready before she was. In his mind, it was simpler for him for a bunch of reasons. It is more complicated for a female firefighter than a male firefighter,” showrunner Andrea Newman explained to TV Insider.

“And in terms of just how they saw their own childhoods, it was complicated. But for Kidd especially so, and this season was really about her coming to understand all of that and understand the things that happened when her cousin came, and she got to really explore and talk about for the first time, her aunt being so depressed after her pregnancy,” the showrunner continued. The couple went through the adoption stages, and Stella witnessed another side of pregnancy and motherhood. Even with Natalie, she learned valuable lessons, and this empowered her. Sigan explained how, saying:

“I think she started to truly believe this is something not only that she can do, but that she really wants to do. And so that’s where in my mind, she kind of left it to the fates. By the end of [Episode] 20, it’s like, ‘If the adoption thing happens, wonderful. If I get pregnant, wonderful, I can handle anything.’ She kind of came to a place where she believed in herself enough to be ready for whatever parenthood was going to look like for her.“

‘Chicago Fire’ Will Explore Stellaride’s Pregnancy in Season 14

Sigan said that pregnancy would affect Stella and Severide’s lives, but she didn’t know to what degree yet. “We always do that [between seasons] time jump. How much of a time jump, we don’t know, but I think the way we are looking at it and who knows exactly what’ll happen with this pregnancy journey for her, but what we want is that idea that parents who are first responders face, which is the stakes go so high,” she said. “You think they’re high now when you’re married to the person in a firehouse, what if you’re both trapped in a fire together and realizing you’re going to leave your child orphan essentially, which is what happened to Kidd when she was young. So it’s a big fear of hers. And now yeah, the stakes are just up. Everything gets dialed up when you deal with children on a call, you see the face of your own child,” Sigan continued, adding:

“It’s a way to really just amp everything up for these two and test this relationship in all new ways while keeping them in love and sexy and all the things we like about them together. But yeah, parenthood. That’s going to shake it up for sure.”

The extent to which this will affect Stella and Severide will be known when Season 14 returns this fall. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.