Taylor Kinney expected to miss final Chicago Fire episode before show is pulled for Olympics
Severide fans might want to prepare themselves because it’s looking like we’re going to have to wait until Chicago Fire returns in March before we see Taylor Kinney back on our screens.
As One Chicago Center previously reported, Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, and Chicago PD will be pulled from NBC’s schedule following their February 4 episodes to make room for NBC’s primetime coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics. This move will keep the shows off the air for the remainder of the month, with no new episodes coming in February following the Feb. 4 episodes.
We were already preparing to be without our favorite first responders for the weeks ahead, but it seems we might have already seen the last of Severide on the show before the One Chicago crossover event airs on March 4.
While not yet confirmed by NBC, it appears that Kinney will not be featured within season 14, episode 12, “Coming in Hot,” with newly revealed information hinting we won’t be seeing Severide appear within the final episode before the show’s break.
In a new interview with TV Insider, Joe Minoso revealed that Cruz will be stepping in as acting lieutenant of Squad 3 in the episode and will play a major role in the central storyline, which sees a member of the firehouse injured on a call.
“The fact that he’s in a leadership role on this call, he’s going to feel a deeper level of responsibility toward his men and everyone in the company because he has to make some of the tough calls. We haven’t really to see that aspect in Cruz’s sort of newfound leadership position yet,” Minoso teased of the episode.
In revealing this piece of information, Minoso seems to have inadvertently confirmed that Severide will be sidelined in the episode, which is supported by the fact that we do not see Kinney in any of the promotional materials for episode 12. After all, if Severide were present, there would be no need for Cruz to step in as acting lieutenant in episode 12.
We’re certainly excited to see Cruz taking on this leadership role within the episode and to see how he deals with the fallout of the injury. It’s always amazing when we get to see characters like Cruz step outside of their comfort zone and pushed in ways that challenge them to grow, and we’ll happily take more Cruz-centered storylines.
It’s just unfortunate that in order to get that storyline, the tradeoff is that Severide needs to be sidelined.
The good news is that we do expect Kinney to be back for the 2026 One Chicago Crossover event, as there have been no indications he will not appear in the crossover action. With the crossover set to kick off on Chicago Fire, we expect that the Firehouse 51 team will have a large role in the three-show crossover event, which will surround a missing passenger jet that unearths a bigger and deadlier mystery.
We should get additional information about the crossover on Wednesday night with NBC expected to drop our first look via the post-episode promos which will air after the night’s new Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, and Chicago PD episodes.
