Chicago Fire Season 15: Release Date, Cast Changes, and Everything Else to Know

A show going into its fifteenth season is bound to have cast changes. And yet for longtime fans of Chicago Fire, it feels like the upcoming Season 15 is more like a reset. The foundations of the show remain the same, but a lot of the reasons why we tune in have changed, or will change. Now, it's about whether the show can still deliver compelling narratives around the characters it still has.

Chicago Fire saying goodbye to quite a few people, some surprising, some not so much. The newest Firehouse 51 boss, Dom Pascal (Dermot Mulroney), is departing the show just as fans were starting to warm up to him. But he's not the only one. Joe Cruz (Joe Miñoso) is also departing the firefighter drama. Both characters will get to conclude their arcs on screen, which is more than we could say about how the show wrote out Sam Carver (Jake Lockett) and Jack Damon (Michael Bradway) last year.

And the shakeups continue behind the scenes, with Andrea Newman exiting as executive producer and showrunner. Co-executive producer Victor Teran will take over for the upcoming season. "Working at Chicago Fire, with the absolute best cast and crew in the business, has been the highlight of my career," Newman said in a statement. "After 14 years, you really do become a family and working with this group will always feel like home."

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But despite the changes, some things remain. Stella (Miranda Rae Mayo) and Severide (Taylor Kinney) are still at the center of the show, even if Season 14 ended on a big cliffhanger. And characters like Mouch (Christian Stolte) and Herrmann (David Eigenberg), not to mention Violet (Hanako Greensmith) and Lizzie (Jocelyn Hudon) and their weird love triangle with Vasquez (Brandon Larracuente), will still be there to bring us some drama.

But what can we expect from Chicago Fire Season 15? To answer all your burning questions, we've put together everything you need to know, including when it premieres, who will be in the new season (and who won't), as well as where you can watch it.

Chicago Fire Season 15 release date

Chicago Fire Season 15 will premiere on Wednesday, Oct. 7 at 9/8c on NBC. But of course, that's not the only show returning that day. In fact, the entirety of the One Chicago universe is. Chicago Med Season 12 will premiere at 8/7c, and Chicago P.D. Season 14 will premiere at 10/9c. The shows will continue to air together throughout the season.

The show can also be watched live online with a Peacock subscription in most areas. New episodes are available on the streaming service the next day.

How did Chicago Fire Season 14 end?

With a bang. Literally. In the final moments of the finale, we see Rescue Squad 3, made up of Kelly Severide, Mouch McHolland, Joe Cruz, Tony Ferraris (Anthony Ferraris), and Harold Capp (Randy Flagler), fail to evacuate a burning storage facility after an explosion. The last we hear is Severide's distress call of "Mayday! Mayday!"

And if you think Truck 81 is safe, think again. They tried to evacuate the rooftop just as an explosion rocked the building, but neither Stella, Herrmann, Sal, nor Ballard (Leroy S. Williams III) made it down the ladder before they were engulfed by fire.

On the ground, Pascal, Violet, and Lizzie could only watch in horror as Severide made a distress call before the screen cut to black. Basically, all we have are questions.

Chicago Fire Season 15 cast changes

We already know the big ones: Dom Pascal (Dermot Mulroney) is leaving, and so is Joe Cruz (Joe Miñoso). There has been no announcement regarding Lucy (Jeanine Mason), but it seems unlikely she will be back after she was fired by Battalion Chief Hopkins (Rob Morgan). However, we are still getting some new faces.

Deadline reported that BMF star Da'Vinchi is joining the new season, playing a firefighter called Marcus Burke. He might not be the only one, either. Jocelyn Hudon recently told E!, "We on Chicago Fire have a bunch of new probies [probational firefighters], so that is very exciting for us and I know the audience is going to love them."

Plus, if Severide takes the OFI (Office of Fire Investigation) job, then we might need a new boss at Firehouse 51. Though all things considered, it's probably safe to assume that Severide will be staying put and moving into Boden (Eamonn Walker)'s old office.

Other than that, with cost-cutting measures still in effect, expect most series regulars to take an episode or two off here and there. In Season 14, the show dealt with absences by saying characters had days off, were somewhere else, or often didn't even explain it. A small price to pay for keeping some of our favorites around.

What will Chicago Fire Season 15 be about?

To start, the show needs to answer a few important questions left over from the Season 14 finale, starting with: Will everyone make it out of that fire alive?

At the end of Season 14, most of the crew was trapped in a massive storage facility that exploded, leaving their lives in peril. With the news that Joe Miñoso and Dermot Mulroney are exiting the show, there's always a chance one of the two doesn't make it out. But Cruz was in a much worse spot, as Pascal was outside the building when it exploded. So, if we have to say a tragic goodbye to someone, it's likely to be Joe Cruz.

Reports, however, suggest Miñoso will be in multiple episodes to wrap up his character arc, which might indicate he survives the fire and then decides to take a step back from firefighting to care for his family, as his wife Chloe (Kristen Gutoskie) is pregnant with twins.

The other big cliffhanger has to do with Severide, who has already passed the captain's exam and, at the end of the season, had to decide between staying at Firehouse 51 or heading to OFI. For many years it's seemed like OFI was Severide's dream, but that would likely mean a reduced number of episodes for Taylor Kinney, so chances he doesn't stick around are slim to none. Kinney just signed a new contract for Season 15.

Especially considering one storyline we are sure to follow in the season is that of Severide, Stella, and their quest to start a family. For now, that probably looks like taking in Isaiah (Hero Hunter), whom the two previously fostered and whose mom is now unable to care for him. But the couple has also talked about adopting a baby, and had to deal with a miscarriage for Stella at the beginning of Season 14. Is the family growing to three and perhaps even four this season? The odds are in Stellaride's favor.

We'll also likely follow the new firefighter Marcus Burke getting used to the Firehouse 51 family, the continuing strange love triangle between Violet, Lizzie, and Vasquez, and perhaps even more of Mouch as a romance writer. If there's anything Chicago Fire knows how to do, it's bring us fun secondary storylines.

Chicago Fire Season 15 cast

With the expectation of two big cast departures and one new character joining the show, a lot can happen in the Season 15 premiere. Especially because the Season 14 finale ended in such a threatening cliffhanger. Could Joe Cruz be killed off to give us the most tragic possible departure for his character? Probably not; it would be very cruel of the show to do that with Chloe pregnant with twins.

But the show that killed Otis (Yuriy Sardarov) and Shay (Lauren German) is certainly capable of delivering a devastating death, one that would certainly justify Pascal's decision to walk away after what happened to his wife, Monica (KaDee Strickland). And it would give Severide a clear reason to stay at Firehouse 51 instead of taking the job at OFI.

Chicago Fire cast:

• Taylor Kinney as Lieutenant Kelly Severide
• David Eigenberg as Lieutenant Christopher Herrmann
• Christian Stolte as Lieutenant Randall "Mouch" McHolland
• Miranda Rae Mayo as Lieutenant Stella Kidd
• Hanako Greensmith as Violet Mikami
• Jocelyn Hudon as Paramedic Lizzie Novak
• Brandon Larracuente as Sal Vasquez
• Da'Vinchi as Marcus Burke

Chicago Fire recurring cast:

• Randy Flagler as Capp
• Anthony Ferraris as Tony

Where to watch Chicago Fire

All 14 seasons of Chicago Fire are available to stream on Peacock with a subscription. Episodes are also available to purchase on Amazon Prime and Apple TV.