It takes a village to put on a TV series, and as Chicago Fire celebrates its 300th episode tonight, it brought together show creator Dick Wolf and Peter Jankowski, President and Chief Operating Officer of Wolf Entertainment, alongside the cast and crew to mark the special occasion. See the photo below.
Courtesy: NBC
In the milestone 300th episode of the series, Firehouse 51 prepares to say goodbye to series original star Joe Miñoso (Joe Cruz), who was seriously injured in a building collapse in the Season 14 finale and has been undergoing PT to try to rehab enough to return to Squad in Season 15.
“[Showrunner] Victor [Teran] talked a lot about how instead of treating another one of these characters’ exits as a death that we don’t really have the chance to revisit, he thought it would be more interesting to dive into the PTSD and the trauma of recovery, having to face losing your identity as a firefighter because life leads a certain way, and it unfortunately can sometimes be incredibly traumatic,” Miñoso tells Parade in this exclusive interview. “
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In the episode, Cruz grapples with the needs of his wife and three children, but also with his Firehouse 51 family as he tries to decide what he’s going to do, and as he does so, we will see the return of the entire Cruz family: Chloe (Kristen Lee Gutoskie), Javi (Carlos S. Sanchez) and Otis (Finn Russell) and the newborn twins.
It’s no secret that whatever his decision or the reasons for it, Cruz will be departing Firehouse 51 and Miñoso will be exiting the show, one of the last original cast members.
“To their credit, they thought that there was just a lot more to leverage in terms of storytelling when it came to how this affected the firefighters in a different way, how it affected the entire family — both the Cruz family and the Firehouse 51 family — and the ramifications of this kind of a tragedy as opposed to just the death,” Miñoso says. “And, my goodness, what a ride. They built a really beautiful experience for me.”
Related: Chicago Fire First Look at Joe Cruz’s Emotional Exit in the 300th Episode
Also, in the “300” episode, Firehouse 51 responds to a complex hostage situation and Chief Tomlin (Doug Savant) gives Severide (Taylor Kinney) an impossible task. No surprise on the latter because when Severide and Kidd (Miranda Mae Mayo) made the decision to fire McCaffrey (Matthew Daddario), whose father is an important politician, Tomlin cautioned them that there would be consequences.
Taylor Kinney, Joe MiñosoCredit: Peter Gordon/NBC
Since it has already been revealed that Cruz doesn’t die, there is the possibility that Miñoso may pop up in a future episode. But he will not be completely saying goodbye to his Chicago Fire family because he will be directing a future episode this season as he is staying in Chicago.
“We have no intention of going anywhere,” he said. “I tried that once in 2011 when I was faced with snowmageddon here in Chicago, and I almost got stuck on Lakeshore Drive in a blizzard. I decided that I couldn’t do Chicago anymore, so I packed up everything and moved to L.A. and two months later booked Chicago Fire and it brought me right back. That’s when I really learned that the city won’t let me go.”
Chicago Fire airs Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. Streams next day on Peacock.
Next, Who Survived the Chicago Fire Finale Cliffhanger? Showrunner Breaks Down That Tragic Premiere Injury (Exclusive)
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