After more than a decade on television, dozens of characters have come and gone through the One Chicago franchise over the years. But

none of them have been as devastating as the slate of characters who exited in 2024. So who’s left Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D. and Chicago

Med and what happened to them? Read on for our ranking of One Chicago’s 2024 exits ranked from the least to most heartbreaking.

 

 

I think we speak for most Chi-Harts when we say that weren’t exactly sad to see Dr. Zola Ahmad (Sophia Ali) leave Chicago Med. The character, a third-year emergency medicine resident at Gaffney Chicago Medical Center, was introduced in Season 9 by Director of Patient and Medical Services on a probationary basis to work under Dr. Crockett Marcel.

The catch is that Zola had been previously fired from her past two jobs for her impulsivity when it came to medicine, which she seemed not to learn from when she decided to decompress a patient’s neck hematoma outside of an operating room and bring a whole group of refugees to the ED who she suspects may be carrying an infectious disease on her first day on the job. Despite a talking to from Marcel,

 

 

sticks to her same tricks throughout the rest of Season 9 until she’s fired in Season 9, Episode 9, “Spin a Yard, Get Stuck in Your Own String” — seven episodes after her debut — when Zola almost kills a living patient in a rush to deliver a pair of lungs to Marel for a patient desperate in need of a transplant.

While we’re all for experimental medicine in medical dramas (Dr. Will Halstead was an example of how to do an experimental doctor right), Zola seemed to do more bad than good, and annoyed the viewers as just as much as the other doctors in the ED, which is why she’s in last place in our ranking. She had good intentions as a doctor and some of her ideas worked out, but her recklessness and constant rule-breaking didn’t make her the most likable character.

Like most soaps fans, we were excited when we learned that Rome Flynn — who played Zende Forrester Dominguez on The Bold & the Beautiful — was cast as new firefighter Derrick Gibson on Chicago Fire, however, his time on the series was short-lived. The character, a firefighter on Truck 81 for the Chicago Fire Department, was introduced in Season 12 as a replacement for firefighter Blake Gallo, who exited earlier in the series.

Gibson had a good backstory: He was an amateur boxer who quit boxing after he accidentally killed an opponent in a boxing match, which led to his career as a firefighter. Due to his past, Gibson also developed an addiction to medication. However, after exiting in Season 12, Episode 8, “All the Dark,” following just six episodes on Chicago Fire, fans didn’t really get to know Gibson enough to form a bond with him. Gibson left Firehouse 51 after Lieutenant Stella Kidd found him having a panic attack and crying due to the trauma of his past. “I thought I pulled it together,” Gibson told Stella. “I need to get out. I need to go.” And with that, Gibson was gone from Firehouse 51 to work on him self and get help for his drug problem. Gibson had a lot of promise, but Chicago Fire fumbled the bag on that one.

In our minds, Blake Gallo (played by Alberto Rosende) was gone too soon from Chicago Fire. The character, a firefighter on Truck 81, joined Chicago Fire in Season 8, replacing Brian “Otis” Zvonecek following his death earlier that season. Gallo had an interesting backstory for why he wanted to be a firefighter: He lost his whole family, including his parents and younger sister, during a house fire when he was 12 years old and was saved by Firehouse 131.

his rivalry with Firehouse 51’s paramedic Violet Miakmi, whom he went to the Fire Academy with, was also fun to watch, especially when their relationship briefly evolved from friends to lovers. Gallo went on to date other characters throughout his time on Chicago Fire — Tracy Herrmann (Christopher Herrmann’s niece), Gianna Mackey, and a woman named Cara — however, Chicago Fire he served more as a comedic-relief sidekick throughout the series as opposed to getting the heroic edits that other characters (such as Kelly Severide of Matt Casey) have received.

Gallo’s exit was also lackluster. He left in the Season 12 premiere, “Barely Gone,” after revealing that he moved to be with his aunt — his last living relative — in Detroit, Michigan, where planned to still work as a firefighter. While his exit felt rushed and his arc didn’t seem as complete as other characters, we’ll still miss him at Firehouse 51.