“Chicago Fire” has had terrible luck keeping its cast together over the past few seasons, and another actor is officially heading for the exit. Michael Bradway, who played Jack Damon on the show, has announced his departure from the series ahead of Season 14.
Bradway is departing the show because he’s scored a role in “Every Year After,” Prime Video’s upcoming series adaptation of romance
novelist Carly Fortune’s “Every Summer After,” which will apparently chronicle the events that take place in her popular Barry’s Bay books. Bradway has been cast as Charlie, younger brother of Sam (Matt Cornett), whose romance with Percy (Sadie Soverall) is the core of the first book. Charlie’s own romance happens in Fortune’s most recent tome, “One Golden Summer.”
While “Chicago Fire” would reportedly be happy to have Bradway back as a guest during Season 14, this still leaves the show in a major lurch. Ever since the Season 12 departure of Matt Casey (Jesse Spencer), the show hasn’t been able to find a handsome male firefighter who works as the show’s new romantic lead. With Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) officially and happily wed to Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo), there aren’t many singletons about. Here’s why Bradway’s departure is such a blow to “Chicago Fire” — and why he’s not the only actor departing the drama during Season 14.
Jack Damon was introduced in Season 12 of “Chicago Fire.” At first he seems mysterious and untrustworthy, and definitely has an agenda when it comes to Kelly. It turns out there’s a reason for that — he’s Kelly’s half-brother through their late father, Benny (Treat Williams), a bomb that was dropped on fans during the Season 12 finale.
That initially makes things difficult for the both of them, as Kelly is in a newfound position of authority at the firehouse and Jack is a hotheaded newbie who manages to make a series of extremely awkward and poor choices on various jobs. Those choices initially reflect poorly on both Kelly and Stella, with whom Damon shares a truck.
And yet — thanks to an accident where Jack gets hurt — the brothers finally develop a sense of affinity for each other and come to an accord. They’re in a good place at the end of Season 13, and Damon even develops a relationship with fellow newbie Lyla Novak (Jocelyn Hudon). But it looks like their romance — like many a recent newbie’s storyline on “Chicago Fire” — will never reach fruition.
Some departures — like Jake Lockett departing the role of Sam Carver and Daniel Kyri leaving Darren Ritter behind — are storyline-dictated. Lockett and Kyri, like Bradway, will be written out of the show during Season 14. Alberto Rosende and Rome Flynn were removed from the show during Season 13, also for reasons related to the plot. Other recent departures — Kara Killmer and Eamonn Walker’s, for instance — were choices made by the actors that came about because both of them wanted to explore other roles.
It does, however, look like “Chicago Fire” is finally about to add some fresh faces to the series for Season 14. Brandon Larracuente, for one, is set to join the show in an undisclosed role — hopefully, he’ll last long enough to make a real impression on viewers.
