An original Chicago Fire star is returning next month.
TV Line has revealed that Jesse Spencer is set for an encore as Matt Casey during the May 25 Chicago Fire Season 10 finale.
“We pretty much begged him, pleaded and offered him the moon so that he would come back and do the finale. But he’s the greatest and he was in even before we started all of that,” co-showrunner Derek Haas told the outlet.
“The character pledged he would be best man at Severide’s wedding. We’re so grateful to [Jesse] that he would come back and honor that pledge.”
News of a potential return first broke earlier this month.
Casey exited the series during its 200th episode, and there is still a lot of unfinished business for the character.
“I realized I’ve been doing TV for a long time. I added it up, and I think this year is my 18th year of network television,” Spencer said during a Zoom press conference in October.
“I called [showrunner] Derek [Haas] and broke him the news, said 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 the show from the start, but there are other things that I would like to do in the future, and there’s some family that I need to take care of, and 18 years is a long time.”
“I was, of course, wanting to talk Jesse into staying and coming back,” Haas added.
“But I was very happy that he gave us five more episodes than just saying at the end of a season, which happens sometimes, too, like, ‘I’m out.’”
“That let us bring back a storyline from Season 1, which I know Jesse was excited about when we pitched it to him, to bring back the Darden boys and really tie in the pilot to Jesse’s leaving.”
What are your thoughts on the big return?
Are you ready to give some resolution to Casey?
Hit the comments below.
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Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.