Is Taylor Kinney leaving Chicago Fire?

Kelly Severide from NBC's Chicago Fire, played by Taylor Kinney, is stepping down from the show due to personal reasons. Specific details about the reason are not known so far, but we will see a lot less of him on the show going forward. Deadline was the first to report Kinney’s leave of absence.

Chicago Fire stars Jesse Spencer as Lieutenant Matthew Casey, Taylor Kinney as Lieutenant Kelly Severide, Monica Raymund as Paramedic in Charge Gabriela "Gabby" Dawson, Lauren German as Paramedic Leslie Elizabeth Shay, and Charlie Barnett as Firefighter Candidate Peter Mills,

It also David Eigenberg as Senior Firefighter Christopher Herrmann, Eamonn Walker as Battalion Chief Wallace Bodenand, Yuri Sardarov as Firefighter Brian "Otis" Zvonecek, Christian Stolte as Senior Firefighter Randall "Mouch" McHolland and several others.

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Taylor Kinney has been on Chicago Fire since 2012

The show first aired on October 10, 2012, and Kinney has been a part of the show ever since. He has also appeared on all of the show's spinoffs, including Chicago Med, Chicago P.D., and the short-lived Chicago Justice.

His character, Lieutenant Kelly Severide, is charismatic and portrayed as something of a man adored by women. He and Casey, played by Jesse Spencer, have been friends since they were together at the CFD Academy, but their friendship becomes strained after a mutual colleague dies on the job.

His father, Chief Benny Severide, was a long-time friend of Chief Boden and Henry Mills, father of Candidate Peter Mills. He began dating Stella Kidd and then ultimately got engaged and married her.

Kinney's absence might require a re-write of the scripts for the show.

Co-creator Derek Haas, who has served as the showrunner for all 11 seasons of Chicago Fire, is leaving Wolf Entertainment at the end of Season 11.

He commented on this by saying:

"Although I am leaving Wolf Entertainment next year to focus on creating new shows, I’m entirely committed to delivering amazing episodes of ‘Chicago Fire’ and ‘FBI: International’ through the end of the current seasons."

He continued:

"I learned everything I know about storytelling, pace, characters, production values, and hiring the best cast, crews, and staffs from Dick Wolf and Peter Jankowski, and as hard as it is to leave a place you love and have called home for over a decade, including incredible support from Universal Television, NBC and CBS, I look forward to building my own brand in entertainment."

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What is Chicago Fire about?

Chicago Fire is the first installment of Wolf Entertainment's Chicago franchise, which deals with different public services in Chicago, Illinois. The show follows the professional and personal lives of firefighters, rescue personnel, and paramedics of the Chicago Fire Department at the fictional Firehouse 51.

The IMDB description of the show reads:

"The story of firefighters and paramedics in the city of Chicago, both on a personal and professional level."

The series premiered on NBC on October 10, 2012 and is currently in its eleventh season, which premiered on September 21, 2022. Executive producers of the show include Dick Wolf, Matt Olmstead, Danielle Gelber, Michael Brandt, Derek Haas, Joe Chappelle, Arthur W. Forney, Peter Jankowski, Todd Arnow, Andrea Newman, Michael Gilvary, and Reza Tabrizi.

Atli Örvarsson is helmed as its composer along with John L. Roman, Todd Arnow, Tim Deluca, Hilly Hicks Jr., Carla Corwin, and Michael Gilvary credited as the show's producers.