“Chicago Fire” has undergone numerous cast changes, several of which have manifested as surprising in-universe events. Dora Madison’s

departure mid-way through season 4 was certainly somewhat of a shock, if only because her character, Jessica Chilton, seemed to have

found a home on the NBC procedural. After Chilton, or Chili as she liked to be known, became Sylvie Brett’s (Kara Killmer) new paramedic

 

 

partner in season 3, Madison was promoted to a series regular in season 4, only for her character to be dismissed by Eamonn Walker’s Wallace Boden for drinking on the job. What prompted such a sudden departure? Well, it seems Madison was simply a casualty of the “Chicago Fire” writers’ desire to keep viewers on their toes by proving characters could be dismissed when they least expected it

 

Madison left relatively early, not only in the show’s run but in her own tenure. Jessica Chilton was heading for some sort of reckoning, however, as the character had very quickly endured her share of drama after joining the Firehouse 51 crew in season 3, episode 21, “We Called Her Jellybean.” A replacement for Peter Mills (Charlie Barnett), Chili proved her worth as a paramedic early on, before entering into a short-lived romance with Jimmy Borrelli (Steven R. McQueen). That fling was cut short after Borrelli was chastised by Jesse Spencer’s Matthew Casey. Soon after, Chili’s identical twin, Jellybean, was found dead. Then, the paramedic accidentally gave the wrong medicine to a patient and tried to cover it up. Once she was found drinking on the job, she was dismissed.

That explains the character’s departure, but why did the series’ writers take things in such a direction? Well, according to showrunner Matt Olmstead, it was simply to shock audiences who might’ve just been getting used to Chili’s presence.