The vibes heading into the new season of Chicago Fire are certainly a bit off this year. While fans are extremely excited for the new season, the arrival of season 14 is bittersweet as it’ll bring about the departures of several beloved members of the cast.

 

 

Daniel Kyri will be exiting the show early in the season, while it’s expected that Jake Lockett and Michael Bradway’s departures will have taken place off-screen, with neither expected to appear at the beginning of the season for a sendoff. We know that Carver (Lockett) has moved out of state to get a fresh start as he works on maintaining his sobriety, but it’s unclear how exactly Ritter (Kyri) and Damon (Bradway) will be written out of the show.

 

 

 

One strong possibility is that their exits will correspond with the layoffs about to strike the Chicago Fire Department. These layoffs were teased at the end of season 13 and they’re set to shake things up this season in many ways.

We’re already expecting that at least a few members of the 51 family will be impacted, either by getting laid off or being transferred to another firehouse in the city. We also know that the shakeups within the department will put a strain on certain members of the team, whose jobs are about to become more difficult with fewer resources.

While the season ahead will bring about a lot of trying moments for the characters and fans, the season will still bring about some exciting developments. Chief among them is a series of “surprise visitors” dropping by Firehouse 51 to shake things up.

As part of its Fall TV preview, Chicago Fire showrunner Andrea Newman revealed to TVLine that these changes will bring about “some soapy fun as surprise visitors pass through to lend a hand.” Newman did not provide additional information on who exactly these surprise visitors might be, but it seems highly likely they’ll be former members of the Firehouse 51 family.