As Chicago Fire fans worry about Kelly Severide’s future at Firehouse 51. one of the NBC show’s original crew members actually is leaving. Showrunner Andrea Newman, who’s been with the series from the very beginning, will exit with the Season 14 finale. And that’s as big a change as whatever may happen with Severide.
Viewers spend a lot of time fretting over the exits of beloved characters and actors, but the departures of writers don’t generate the same interest, and they should. While they don’t appear on screen, they’re the folks who shape the stories and build the world. And one of the effects of having a long-running hit show like Chicago Fire is that the creative team moves on, just like actors who come and go. Newman is departing the series to find her next adventure, and it’s another example of just how far Fire has grown since the series began.
Both of Chicago Fire‘s creators, Derek Haas and Michael Brandt, are no longer with the series. When Haas departed after Season 11, it was the end of an era—for that reason and because of how much energy he brought to the show. It was almost a running joke that every finale got bigger and more chaotic, because Haas always swung for the fences. But before he left, there was a seamless transition, as Andrea Newman was named co-showrunner for Seasons 10 and 11. He handed the reins to someone else who had an equally long history with the show, and loved it just as much.
Fans probably don’t recall that Newman’s first writing credit was the fourth episode of Chicago Fire overall, “One Minute,” which aired in October 2012. Both alone and with various other writers—most notably Michael Gilvary—Newman poured essentially a decade and a half of creativity into the series. It was Newman and Gilvary who wrote the nail-biting Season 1 finale, “A Hell of a Ride.” Newman’s other credits include the Season 4 premiere “Let It Burn” (with Gilvary), the emotionally wrenching Season 5 crossover episode “Deathtrap,” and the Season 7 crossover opener “Going to War” (also with Gilvary). She delivered in some of Fire‘s biggest moments, and she’s continued to steer the series through more of them in the last three seasons since she became sole showrunner.
In her tenure as showrunner, Newman has maintained the ethos that made Chicago Fire a success. There’s the ostentatious unpredictability that Haas did so well; he was never afraid to take a risk either on or off-screen. That’s continued under Newman—audiences have been divided on some of the biggest developments, most notably Sam Carver’s character arc before his exit, or the Stellaride pregnancy storyline that wasn’t. But love those ideas or hate them, one can’t say that Chicago Fire has ever rested on its laurels, even as it absolutely could after so many years.
At the same time, it was Newman who wrote the pivotal Season 13 hour “Too Close,” which killed off Monica Pascal. That episode turned the whole season on its head, because it was also a turning point for the character of Dom Pascal. That episode was where Pascal well and truly separated himself from his beloved predecessor Wallace Boden, because fans got to see him deeply humanized. While viewers didn’t have a strong connection to Monica, it was still heartbreaking to see how badly Pascal reacted to the loss of his wife—not just the obvious grief in the moment, but how he was on tilt for episodes afterward.
Every TV show is a team effort, but it’s the showrunner who steers the ship and sets the standard. Andrea Newman ensured that Chicago Fire survived when it could’ve fallen apart after losing its co-creator and one of the architects of the whole One Chicago franchise. She brought the show through that transition period and set it up for its next chapter. It’s fitting that her last Chicago Fire credit is a solo writing credit for the Season 14 finale, because it’s a chance for the fans to appreciate everything she’s contributed to the show. It’s incredibly appropriate that the finale is titled “Thank You.”
Now Newman is passing the baton to her colleague Victor Teran, whose first writing credit was in Season 10. He has his own litany of Chicago Fire experience to draw from, and he’ll put his own creative stamp on Season 14 and hopefully beyond. But it’s bittersweet to see someone else who’d been with the show from the start say goodbye. Nothing lasts forever, certainly not in television, yet there’s something special about that original group and the original vision. Andrea Newman has been a wonderful steward of the vision for Chicago Fire, and she deserves a round of applause.
Chicago Fire airs Wednesdays at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. Photo Credit: Courtesy of NBC.
Article content is (c)2020-2026 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.
