CHICAGO Fire has recruited an A-list actor to lead the series into its 13th season following the shock exit of Eamonn Walker.
Dermot Mulroney, the star of rom-coms like My Best Friend’s Wedding and The Wedding Date, will join the cast as Chief Dom Pascal in the forthcoming season.
The 60-year-old actor will join the NBC drama as a series regular after Eamonn stepped down from his role as Battalion Chief Wallace Boden, Deadline reported on Thursday.
While details of Mulroney’s character have not officially been revealed, sources previously told the publication that Dom began his career at the Chicago Fire Department.
Dom, who is described as a cheerful person with a completely different leadership style to Boden, returns to the Windy City after 10 years as a chief in Miami.
Fans will remember Boden said goodbye to Firehouse 51 in the season 12 finale episode, as he was promoted to Deputy Commissioner of the Chicago Fire Department.
It is not clear what Dom’s arrival will mean for Christopher Herrmann (played by David Eigenberg), the veteran firefighter Boden named his successor.
“You just have to be you,” Boden told him. “The Christopher Herrmann who looks out for people, who listens. Who always leads with his heart.”
In an earlier interview with Deadline, David, 60, said he doesn’t “know that there was an organically natural progression” for him to step into Boden’s position.
“I want to say he felt like he had the rug pulled from under him because I don’t think [Herrmann] saw what the Chief said to him coming at all,” he reflected on the scene.
David added, “In the real fire service, there are firefighters who stay firefighters their entire career. So when you become a Lieutenant, you’re not called a firefighter. You are a firefighter but you are not called that anymore.
“With Herrmann, I think he would’ve been content to stay in the firefighter capacity. If they decide to make him an officer, that’s great because he can lead but I don’t know that there was an organically natural progression for the character to go into that position. So we have to see how the writers deal with it,” he concluded.
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Meanwhile, Eamonn is expected to reprise his role as the new Deputy Commissioner in future seasons of the hit NBC drama.
Eamonn, 62, isn’t the only cast member to quit the series in season 12.
In March, Rome Flynn’s character Derrick Gibson was abruptly written off the show after six episodes.
In the show, Gibson quits the CFD to seek help for his prescription pill addiction.
“Just like all the fans, I was sad to see Gibson leave,” Flynn, 32, addressed his shock departure. “He was a character I very much enjoyed playing,”
His exit came shortly after Kara Kilmer bowed out, with her character Sylvie Brett relocating to Portland, Oregon, with her husband, fire captain Matt Casey (played by Jesse Spencer).
Alberto Rosende, who joined the cast as Blake Gallo in season eight, announced his decision to leave the show in December 2023.
He made his final appearance in the season 12 premiere episode “Barely Gone”.
In a subsequent statement shared on Instagram, Albert said “it wasn’t easy” to say goodbye to Chicago Fire, adding “the story I got to tell was one that made me proud.”
Chicago Fire also stars Taylor Kinney, Miranda Rae Mayo, Joe Miñoso, Christian Stolte, Daniel Kyri, Hanako Greensmith and Jocelyn Hudon.
