Fan Favorite Makes Surprising Return to 'Chicago Fire'

Matt Casey coming back for a second return visit.

While Lieutenant Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) is gone to Alabama to take special training in arson investigation on Chicago Fire, his absence will be filled by the return of Matt Casey (Jesse Spencer). At least for one episode—episode 18, it was reported by Variety.

Spencer left Chicago Fire during the show’s 200^th episode (Oct. 2021), when Casey made the decision to move to Portland to serve as legal guardian to Ben and Griffin Darden, whose father Andy—Casey’s best friend—was killed in a fire in the Chicago Fire premiere episode. The boys’ mother Heather is in jail, so unless Casey stepped in, they would be put into foster care and most likely separated.

At that time, Spencer said, “I realized I've been doing TV for a long time. I added it up and this year is my 18th year because I went straight from House to Chicago Fire. We were coming up to the 200th episode, and so I called [showrunner] Derek [Haas] and I broke the news that I’m leaving the show. He agreed that we should at least get Casey to the 200th episode. It was a difficult decision because I've loved this show from the start, but there's other things that I would like to do in the future and family that I need to take care of.”

Related: Exclusive! See Stella Kidd's Wedding Dress from the Chicago Fire Finale + Jesse Spencer's Return

Even so, at that time, he told reporters, he would be back, and he has kept his word. He returned for the Severide-Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) wedding in the season 10 finale on May 25, 2022, because, after all, he was the best man. And now, he’s back again, in what could turn out to be a very awkward episode because of the end of his long-distance romance with Sylvie Brett (Kara Killmer).

It wasn’t long after Casey’s return to Portland from the wedding that he got a Dear John phone call from Brett because she realized long-distance wasn’t going to cut it and told him that the timing wasn’t just right for them. She has since moved on and is finally dating again—Dylan (Christopher Allen)—and in the last episode, she told Dylan she’s ready to be open to new things.

The reason for Casey's return has not yet been revealed.

Related: How Taylor Kinney's Character Severide Is Leaving Chicago Fire

Kinney unexpectedly took a temporary leave from Chicago Fire to deal with a “personal matter,” and the writers cleverly sent him off for training. We last saw him in the Feb. 22 episode, but there is no word on how long he will be MIA.

Chicago Fire airs Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.

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