Monica Mercuri
Tuesday, May 7th, 2024
Kelly Severide’s Timeline on Chicago Fire
Kelly Severide has undergone remarkable character growth in Chicago Fire. While he was considered a ladies’ man in earlier seasons, Severide has evolved to become a supportive husband, thoughtful leader, and loyal friend. What happened to Kelly Severide on Chicago Fire? Read on to see Taylor Kinney’s character timeline from Season 1 to Season 12.
Chicago Fire is NBC’s drama series that follows the professional and personal lives of firefighters, rescue personnel, and paramedics at the Chicago Fire Department’s fictional Firehouse 51. Kinney made his debut as Kelly Severide, a lieutenant at Firehouse 51 and an officer in charge of Squad 3, in Season 1 of Chicago Fire in 2012.
Severide has been a fan favorite of the Dick Wolf drama since he was introduced more than a decade ago. In recent seasons, his beloved relationship with Stella Kidd, another firefighter at Firehouse 51, has been a focal point of his character. Although Kinney took a brief hiatus from the series in Season 11 for personal reasons, his character returned in Season 12, where he continues to play a significant role at Firehouse 51.
In honor of Severide, let’s take a trip down memory lane and check out Kelly Severide’s character timeline on Chicago Fire, including his best and worst moments over 12 years.
Season 1: Severide starts on a rough note
Severide’s entry in Season 1 is marked by the tragic loss of his firefighter and dear friend, Andy. The aftermath is a tense of Andy’s death is tense, with Severide and Casey, the Lieutenant of Truck 81, both blaming each other for what happened. At the time, Severide was also struggling with the injury sustained in the deathly blaze and turned to painkillers (even asking Shay to fake a drug test). Thankfully, this character arc was wrapped up quickly, and Severide returned to fighting fires with the squad.
Season 1: Severide reconnects with his father Benny
In Season 1, Severide also reconnected with his father, Benny Severide, a firefighter at Firehouse 51, before he transferred to CFD’s arson investigation department. However, Severide wasn’t excited at first to see his estranged father abandon him and his mother when he was a kid. Gradually, their relationship improves with time.
Season 1: Severide and Renee Royce’s relationship takes a turn
Renee was a positive force in Severide’s life, and they genuinely loved each other. When Renee had to relocate to Spain for a job promotion, Severide decided to stay in Chicago after she invited him with her. While Severide takes the breakup hard, eventually, Renee returns in the Season 1 finale to tell him that she’s pregnant with his child! (Plot twist: It wasn’t actually his.)
Season 2: Severide meets his half-sister Katie Nolan
In Season 2, Severide spotted Benny hugging a young lady and thought that his father was cheating on his wife with her. But it turns out the woman was Severide’s half-sister, Katie Nolan. Although their relationship started sourly, Katie eventually came around and began visiting Severide at the firehouse. When she is kidnapped later in the season, Severide eventually finds her and brings her to safety, but she accepts the job offer and moves away.
Season 3: Severide grapples with Leslie Shay’s death
Severide and paramedic Leslie Shay’s relationship was friendship goals. That’s why the scene in the Season 2 finale when Severide is desperately trying to save her life after a deadly fire is so devastating. In the Season 3 premiere, it’s revealed that Shay didn’t make it. Her death profoundly affects Severide, who briefly left Firehouse 51 for more than a month after her passing. With the help of Casey and Leslie Shay’s replacement, Sylvie Brett, who resembles his late friend, he returns to his duty.
Season 4: Severide’s leadership skills are put to the test
At the start of Season 4, Severide is demoted from his position as Lieutenant due to criticism over his leadership and the high rate of firefighters resigning or being dismissed under his command. This temporary demotion was a tough blow for Severide, leading to tension with his replacement, Dallas Patterson. Although Benny provided him with incriminating information to potentially blackmail Patterson, Severide chose not to use it. He eventually regained his rank as Lieutenant.
Season 5: Severide suffers another loss with Anna
In Season 5, Severide reconnects with Chicago Med’s Dr. Jeff Clarkle, who asks him to donate bone marrow because he thinks he’s a match with a dying cancer patient named Anna Turner. Although he is hesitant, he eventually undergoes the procedure. After her health improves, Severide and Anna grow close and start to date, but she ultimately returns to Springfield. Not so long later, she returns to Chicago, and they start dating again while Anna works at Chicago Med as a nurse. Unfortunately, Anna’s cancer comes back, and she passes away. Poor Severide.
Season 6: Severide heart is patched up again by Stella Kidd
After briefly dating in Season 5, Severide invites Stella to move in with him (platonically) after his landlord evicts her. But their romantic history becomes unavoidable when Stella becomes jealous after he hooks up with Sylvie Brett’s friend, Hope Jacquinot. After Casey calls him out for being in love with her, he sees Stella at Molly’s, where he confesses his feelings for her, which she reciprocates.
Season 7: Severide almost loses Stella
While they were dating, Stella was severely injured in Season 7, Episode 2, while responding to an apartment complex fire. She was rushed to Gaffney Medical Center in an episode of Chicago Med, where Dr. Connor Rhodes informed Severide that to save her, they’d need to remove a part of her lung. Severide pleaded with him to consider other alternatives, knowing the procure would end her career. Thankfully, Rhodes was able to save her life and job.
Season 7: But… Severide tragically loses his father
In Season 7, Episode 6, “All the Proof,” Severide learns that his father, Benny, suffered a massive stroke and passed away. Kelly, Katie, and the rest of Firehouse 51 attended Benny’s funeral. The CFD honored Benny for his services, and Severide placed a medal that Katie had found on his casket. At the end of the episode, Boden has an emotional talk with Severide, telling him Benny had done what he’d asked before passing away to save the firehouse.
Season 8: Severide continues to be a loyal friend
Severide is always looking out for his friends and family. This trait becomes especially clear at the end of Season 8 when a large burst of gas injures Harold Capp. When Severide and Casey discover that Capp skipped his treatment and is nowhere to be found, they track him down to his house, where he is still dealing with the aftermath of the incident. After some convincing, they persuade him to return, and Severide takes action against the scrapyard responsible for his injury.
Season 9: Severide shows that he’s a supportive boyfriend
Season 7 was challenging for Stellaride, but the couple found their way back in Season 8. In the Season 9 premiere, Severide and Kidd shared a heartfelt moment when he told her he was proud of her after Chief Boden recommended she take the lieutenant exam. In Season 9, the couple’s demeanor is more mature and grounded, which is refreshing after all the ups and downs they’ve faced over the years.
Season 9: Severide asks Kidd to marry him
At last! Severide proposed to Stella in the most Chicago Fire way possible: in a burning building. While rescuing an employee from a restaurant that caught fire, Severide got down on one knee and asked Stella to marry him. “I don’t want you to ever leave me. Stella Kidd, will you marry me?” he asked. “Hell yes!” she responded.
Season 10: Severide and Kid get married
In the Season 10 finale, Severide and Kidd officially tied the knot. Of course, their wedding day had a few unexpected hurdles, but best man Matt Casey (Jesse Spencer) returned from Portland just in time to ensure the special moment went off without a hitch. Severide and Stella exchanged vows, surrounded by their Firehouse 51 family and their Dalmatian aboard a city cruise.
Season 11: Severide unexpectedly leaves Firehouse 51
Severide unexpectedly left Chicago Fire in Season 11 to Chicago to train at “the best arson investigation training program in the world.” Arson commander Captain Tom Van Meter explained that the opportunity, which was too big for Severide to pass on, was at the last minute, which is why Severide wasn’t there to tell Boden himself.
Fans received another update about Severide’s whereabouts in Season 11, Episode 21, “Change of Plans.” Cruz (Joe Minoso) learned that Severide is no longer in Alabama at the arson investigation program and accidentally revealed the news to Kidd, who was kept out of the loop about her husband’s plans. “What are you talking about?” she asked Cruz.
Season 12: Severide returns to Firehouse 51 but has issues to solve with Kidd
Severide returns in Season 12, Episode 1, and reunites with his wife and fellow firefighters, who felt his year-long absence. Kidd expressed to him that she felt neglected while he was away. “You get so caught up in these arson cases. It’s like a drug. I didn’t even know where you were on that last case and it’s taken six months for us to even try to build back any kind of real trust,” she said to him.
Season 12: Severide leaves Firehouse 51, again
After making his grand return, Severide left again in Season 12, Episode 3, “Trapped,” to take an arson case with the ATF. During their goodbye, Severide promised Kidd he would return home to Chicago after the case was over (unlike in Season 11 when he went MIA after enrolling in an arson investigation program). Thankfully, Severide returned to Chicago Fire “Port in the Storm” in Season 12, Episode 6, just in time for Sylvie Brett’s last episode and her wedding to Matthew Casey.
Severide tells her that he was always planning to come home. “I wasn’t sure,” Stella admits. “I was,” Severide says to her. I love you, Stella Kidd.”
