Chicago Fire Season 12 Picks Up After 6-Month Time Jump with an Engagement, an Exit and Many Happy Returns

Warning: This post contains spoilers for the season 12 premiere Chicago Fire.

Chicago Fire season 12 is really heating up!

And that’s literally meant to be, as the new season of the NBC hit kicked off with Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) and her husband, Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney), taking a steamy shower.

The scene marked Kinney’s first appearance on the series since February 22, 2023. In January of last year, the 42-year-old actor took a leave of absence from the show “to deal with a personal matter,” a source close to production told PEOPLE at the time.

Kinney’s was the first of several happy returns in the new episode, which picked up six months after the season finale last May.

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At the end of season 11, Matt Casey (Jesse Spencer), now living in Portland, Oregon, proposed to his ex-girlfriend Sylvie Brett (Kara Killmer); Randall “Mouch” McHolland (Christian Stolte) fell after being hit by a bullet during a call; and Stella headed south to find Kelly after he never came home from an arson investigation course.

In the premiere, Kelly returned to Firehouse 51, Mouch returned to work for the first time since recovering from his ordeal, and Sylvie rocked Matt’s rock.

Miranda Rae Mayo as Stella Kidd, Kara Killmer as Sylvie Brett and Hanako Greensmith as Violet Mikami in ‘Chicago Fire’.

Adrian S Burrows Sr/NBC

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But not everything was completely carefree at the station.

Despite their pre-shift showers, Stella and Kelly were on shaky legs. Stella’s trust was shattered, so she was reluctant to let Kelly get involved in any arson investigation lest he – and 51 – leave her behind again. Of course, she had to ignore it a bit when there was an arsonist on the loose who was targeting firefighters.

Although Sylvie was excited to marry Matt, the wedding, she said, was in about a month and a half – and she would be leaving Chicago after that. (Killmer’s departure from the show sometime this season was confirmed in November.)

Alberto Rosende on ‘Chicago Fire’.

Adrian S Burrows Sr/NBC via Getty Images

Blake Gallo (Alberto Rosende), however, has already left the firehouse as he prepares to move to Michigan to be with family for the first time since his parents and sister died in a fire when he was a child. He stopped by for a last farewell full of tears.

“I’m going to miss my family like hell at 51,” he told a large group of his former colleagues. They soon left, leaving only Blake’s best friends, Darren Ritter (Daniel Kyri) and Violet Mikami (Hanako Greensmith).

“Oh, you people don’t know: I’ve already made two new best friends in Detroit, Riolet and Vitter,” Blake joked as the three hugged and cried. Before leaving for the call, Violet gave Blake one last kiss on the cheek.

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Despite saying goodbye to her former love and preparing to say goodbye to her ER partner Sylvie, Violet seemed to be greeting someone else: she and Sam Carver (Jake Lockett) had a few small moments that implied they might be keeping a romantic secret . (Huh. The secret at Firehouse 51? We’ll see.)

Hanako Greensmith as Violet Mikami, David Eigenberg as Christopher Herrmann, Daniel Kyri as Darren Ritter, Miranda Rae Mayo as Stella Kidd and Kara Killmer as Sylvie Brett in ‘Chicago Fire’.

Adrian S Burrows Sr/NBC

Near the end of the episode, Chief Wallace Boden (Eamonn Walker) and Christopher Herrmann (David Eigenberg) caught an arsonist leaving a package at 51. While Boden arrested the guy, Christopher threw an explosive into the park across the street.

As it exploded, Christopher was thrown hard to the ground. He insisted that he was fine as Violet and co. ran to his side, but something about the way he was sitting in the dressing room at the end of the episode was off…

And in a teaser for next week’s episode, Joe Cruz (Joe Miñoso) struggles to take orders after serving as team leader while Kelly was away — and threatens to leave Firehouse 51.

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Chicago Fire airs Wednesdays at 9pm ET/PT on NBC.

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Source: HIS Education