‘Chicago Fire’ Fans Think Severide Will Find a Way to Survive
Derek Haas, the executive producer of Chicago Fire, said season nine’s closing minutes “will be as tense and as big as anything we’ve ever done.” Haas also said that the finale will likely be one of those that leave many fans angry at him.
While it doesn’t seem like fans of the show are that peeved, they have been on pins and needles awaiting the start of season 10. In the meantime, plenty of fans not only think that Lt. Severide (Taylor Kinney) will survive but manage to save everyone else in the process. After all, Severide has saved many a day for Firehouse 51 already, right?
A ‘life-altering’ or ‘life-ending’ finale?
Rather than life-altering, “No Survivors” along with Haas’ other statements suggest this season finale was meant to be “life-ending.” This is probably why he said in May of this year that it’s “one of those finales where those final minutes will make a lot of viewers angry with me.” Why else would a lot of Chicago Fire fans be peeved with Haas? Because they find out that he didn’t actually kill off the entire Rescue Squad 3?
Of course, if every member of Rescue Squad 3 does perish in Lake Michigan, it would be life-altering for the rest of Station 51. Fans on Twitter, though, don’t seem convinced those of Station 51 will stay underwater for long, with many fans saying they know Severide will be able to get himself — and likely everyone else — out alive.
If Severide and the others do end up getting killed off, the biggest question will be “Just, why?” For shock value, that’s why. Showrunners have given insight into how the writers decide who to kill off, and One Chicago writers aren’t shy about admitting that they killed off Shay (Lauren German) to keep the audience on their toes.
Should fans get their hopes high for Severide’s survival?
While on one hand, we would love for Severide to pull through and save the day, the showrunner’s statements and the season’s cliffhanger conclusion could have been a prognostic of him being killed off. “But why the happy engagement announcement from Severide and Kidd,” you exclaim. “We’ve been waiting for nine seasons for this to happen!”
One of the key elements of any well-written TV show or film is great character development. In movies, character development has to be established two-thirds of the way through—or within the first and second act. An equally important element is the use of “screenwriting beats” to trigger specific emotions from viewers because strong emotions are what grab and keep your attention.
If every episode or season of a TV series ended exactly how fans wanted or expected it to, it’s quite likely you would lose interest pretty quickly. So far, Haas and other show creators have done a great job of keeping us highly invested in Chicago Fire simply because you have no idea what to expect. After all, isn’t real life the same?
What else happened in the ‘Chicago Fire’ season 9 finale?
Haas had teased before the airing of “No Survivors” that the finale would be “life-altering” for the team of 51. Well, he wasn’t merely being hyperbolic. In the last 43-minute episode of the season, we discover that Chief Boden is considering a career change; we beheld an eye-popping Brettsey development (about time already!).
Further, Severide and Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) announced their engagement, with Severide asking Capt. Casey (Jesse Spencer) to be his best man; we watched Blake Gallo (Alberto Rosende) and Violet Mikami (Hanako Greensmith) reignite the flames of romance; then all hopes were dashed as the final episode of season nine ends with some members of 51 in peril.
