A Major Player Is Leaving 'Chicago Fire,' But Will He Ever Come Back? (SPOILERS)

Fans of the One Chicago trilogy of television shows know that there’s no figure more important than Captain Matt Casey. Played by the charming Jesse Spencer, Casey has been a lead in Chicago Fire since its inception. As a major player, Jesse has also appeared in both Chicago Med and Chicago P.D.

But now, Jesse has announced that he really is leaving Chicago Fire. Fans are distraught; what does this mean for Chicago Fire and the entire One Chicago franchise? And what does this mean for Jesse Spencer? If Casey really does leave the fire department and his relationship with Brett behind, is it possible he could come back?

Jesse has been the leading man of Chicago Fire since its very first episode. Although it’s an ensemble show, a lot of the weight of the series falls onto Jesse’s shoulders. And now that they’ve reached their 200th episode, Jesse has decided that it’s time to make a change. He jumped right from House to Chicago Fire, so he’s never been short of a job.

“I’ve been doing TV for a long time,” he explained to Us Weekly. “I added it up, and I think this year is my 18th year of network television straight since I went straight from House into Chicago Fire. We were coming up to the 200th episode so I called [co-creator] Derek [Haas], made a personal decision, and broke the news that I thought it was time to leave the show, and he agreed that we should at least get Casey to 200 episodes.”

“It was a difficult decision because I’ve loved this show from the start, but there’s other things that I would love to do in the future,” Jesse continued. “And there’s some family that I need to take care of. Eighteen years is a long time. That’s a long stretch.”

We agree! Working as a lead in a television series is definitely time-consuming, with days that can start at dawn and end after midnight. And there are probably other projects Jesse wants to explore after all this time, in addition to spending time with his new wife, Kali Carr.

Even though Jesse decided to leave Chicago Fire, that might not be the end of Casey. The door is left open for Casey to come back, even though he’s no longer the captain of the fire department. Jesse revealed, “There is the chance that I will come back. We’re toying with, ‘Will Casey come back?’ … That’s a possibility for me too.”

Well, that’s a relief! Co-creator Derek Haas has shared that he definitely wants Jesse to come back. “I never try to predict what’s going to happen production-wise, but we’re in the camp of whenever Jesse wants to come do an episode with us, we will move mountains and Earth to make that happen,” Derek explained. (Honestly, we would too, so we’re glad we’re all on the same page.)

The news that Jesse is leaving Chicago Fire is a hard pill to swallow, but knowing that he’ll finally have some time to live his life and work on the projects he’s drawn to brings us joy. But Jesse is luckily staying put in Chicago. So Casey will almost definitely be back at some point. It's not necessarily, "Goodbye," just, "Goodbye for now."