Joe Minoso on the Emotional ‘Chicago Fire’ Fall Finale and What’s Next for Cruz [Exclusive Interview]

Any time Joe Cruz gets emotional, we’re bringing out the tissues ourselves. And on Chicago Fire Season 7 Episode 9, “Always a Catch,” Cruz definitely makes us bring out those tissues when his new girlfriend, Chloe, is involved in an accident that leaves her life hanging in the balance.

I recently had the chance to chat with Joe Minoso, who plays Cruz on Chicago Fire, about the fall finale, what we can expect from season moving forward, and what he loves best about working on the show. (Note: this article does contain spoilers from the fall finale!)

Minoso said one of his favorite things about being on Chicago Fire so far has been the people he gets to work with. “I adore my cast and my crew. We get along remarkably well, sometimes too well, and we can hold up production. I work with a bunch of goofballs and it’s really the most fun in the world.”

“From a professional standpoint, just as an actor, it’s really a joy to be able to play such a plethora of things. I feel like I’m in a really sweet spot when it comes to this show, in that I get to play a lot of comedy, and a lot of drama. I feel like I get to work across the gambit. So that’s really a joy as an actor,” Minoso said.

One of the things that makes Chicago Fire really stand out is its ability to strike that balance between comedy and drama that Minoso enjoys.

“The more you get to meet firefighters and spend time with paramedics, the more you get to understand that these people see some of the most horrendous things you can ever see as a human being. For them, drama and high-stakes are always at a ten, so the only way these people decompress is by being ridiculous with one another. No one else really understands them the way they understand each other, and it’s this very specific family,” Minoso explained.

“There’s a really interesting tone that I think we strive to try and find every week on Fire,” he continued. “Even in comparison to the other Chicago shows, I think we tend to have the lightest touch, a lot of the time.”

Cruz has been on Chicago Fire since the beginning of the series, and to say his character has been through a lot would be an understatement. Minoso spoke a bit about how he thinks Cruz has evolved over the course of the series.

“He’s a stronger firefighter. I think he’s a smarter firefighter and I think he’s starting to get better at understanding relationships. He’s not really been someone who’s had much luck with ladies in the past and I think he’s finding his own finally,” Minoso said. “I think he personally has just become more assured of himself. I think that’s the biggest transition or the biggest growth for the character in general.”

This season’s fall finale episode dives into some of that growth when Cruz’s new love interest, Chloe, is severely injured in a car accident.

“Every season they have found an excuse to make me cry. I did it once in Season 1 and I think they liked it, so they look for a reason to have the tears come whenever they can. By all means, I’m more than happy to play it any chance that I get. It was Chloe, who’s played by Kristen Gutoskie, who’s a wonderful actress and a lovely girl, and has been a tremendous acting partner to have. It is always welcome and it’s been so great having her there. I have no idea what the future holds in terms of where the relationship goes or how it goes or doesn’t build,” Minoso said.

The accident scene itself was a key part of the episode and one that a lot of work went into.

“The thing that really excited me the most was when I found out how we were gonna go about filming the sequence where we actually find her in the accident. That was, if you saw it, that was one giant oner that we did. It was a very long one-shot sequence that was choreographed from top to bottom, including all of the actors from the show. It was really a beautiful dance.”

“That was really one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done on this show. Doing a oner with a steady cam of that length requires you coming in and out of performance at a moment’s notice because you have to move around the corner and wait for the camera to find you, and then get back into the moment and then do your scene. Then when the camera’s off, you set yourself up five feet away under this thing so they can catch you when they come around after dealing with five other actors. That in and of itself was so exciting, quite honestly. You could feel the electricity on set because everybody was so into what they were doing. Watching the cameraman maneuver through that world was unbelievable,” Minoso recalled. “It’s one of the most exciting things I think we’ve done in our entire series.”

Minoso credited the director of the episode, Reza Tabrizi, for how it well it all worked together. “He really wanted an opportunity to show how so many things can happen at once in one accident. It’s so rare that we get to cover it that way,” he said.

“I know for a fact that the cameraman, the A.D., and Reza were all there on the Sunday before — the day before we gonna shoot it — for five hours just walking around, trying to figure it out. That was on top of the shoot, the production schedule and going and finding this place. They definitely did a lot of their homework before we got there. We’re grateful for it.”

Once Chloe is finally found, she’s rushed to the hospital, and Boden takes Cruz so he can be there with her. It’s a new relationship, though, so when he’s asked if he is family, he’s unsure what to say about his relationship with Chloe. Along with that, when Chloe’s parents arrive at the hospital, it’s his first time meeting them.

“These things are always so difficult. And new relationships are always so fragile and for the most part, the relationship between myself and Chloe is still very fresh, it’s still fairly new,” Minoso noted. “That was in and of itself a really interesting tone to play because it’s more often than not you come into these situations or you find yourself in these shows, the person who is dealing with the loss is usually really somebody very close, right? They’ve had years of life together or we’ve seen them together through many, many different kinds of life moments. But with Cruz and Chloe, something this traumatic happening, this early on and forcing the meet between her parents and Cruz, you don’t get to play that very often, especially not on our show. So it’s really fun to take that on. And what is it like to have to meet people who you usually try to put your best foot forward for, the first time you meet the in-laws or you meet the prospective other’s parents? This situation becomes so dire, and talk about having to really stand up to a different bar when that’s when you’re meeting people like that for the first time.”

Chloe’s parents are instantly warm toward Cruz, and thankfully, Chloe makes it through surgery okay. After she wakes up, Chloe’s mother takes the time to tell Cruz that Chloe has been more than he knows. 

“It seems we’re going to be finding out a little more about things that have come up in her past, which thrills me just because it means we’ll get to see Kristen more,” Minoso said. And though he couldn’t speak to what exactly might happen next, he did note the importance of this episode in their relationship moving forward.

“This is going to certainly be a pivotable moment in their relationship. I think it’s gonna go one way or the other. It’ll be interesting to see what the writers decide to write. There’s no way you can come back from this and just go back to business as usual, and this sets us up for a very different kind of relationship. And whether that’s one that’s filled with strife or whether that’s one that’s just blessed, I honestly don’t know.”

“I do think it will bond them. I think it will bring them closer,” he continued. “I feel like the way that they wrote Cruz in that episode, his feelings are strong, his feelings are real, and Cruz tends to be an over-lover but he tends to really love with everything he’s got even if he’s not getting it back. For the first time, I think, that level of love is matched in this girl, in Chloe. It will be interesting to see what they do.”

“It’s been great working with the actress, and I enjoy the storyline for Cruz,” he added.

Something else Minoso enjoyed this season was an earlier episode which had Cruz taking it upon himself to teach the others Spanish. That’s something he said he’d also like to see more of.

“I’ve tried to push as much as I can to live in my culture on this show. We have an opportunity to play that up, why not, especially in such a multicultural city,” Minoso said. “They definitely played that for the comedy of the thing and I remember when we read it we thought it was one of the funniest C-story lines that we’ve done in a while. I think it paid off beautifully. I thought it was funny, but also smart to do, and it comes from a very real place from Cruz and it comes from a very real place for all those guys. I think when David, when Hermann’s coming back at me, ‘They speak Polish and Chinese here too, you gonna teach us that?’ That’s fair. That’s a great and fair point, but I think anything that we can all do to strive to be more understanding of another culture or another person that we are not familiar with, I think is the best thing we can do for humanity. If we were able to, in any way, talk about inclusivity or how to understand each other a little bit more, then I’m all for it. so hopefully, we will get to see more of that.”

As for anything else we might expect from the show once it returns from hiatus, Minoso was able to give a couple of teasers.

“I just found out that Cruz might be working with the guys over at P.D. In some fashion, they might need his help for something coming down the line. Definitely look out for that,” he hinted. “As always, we try to push ourselves as much as we possibly can. If there’s anything that I can tell you is be prepared to see snow, because we’re about to go into the winter months. I’m sure we’re gonna be out there in it.”

Finally, Minoso circled back to the family element of the show and how much everyone enjoys working together, as well as noting how grateful he is for the longevity of the series.

“I think people would be incredibly surprised at how much musical talent there is amongst the TV shows. It can’t be helped,” he revealed. “Yesterday we had our holiday party, and there, a bunch of the actors and some crew people decided that we were going to do an impromptu jam session at Jessie Spencer’s house tomorrow after work. That kind of stuff happens all the time. If anything I would say, especially with Fire, that family feel that you get, that’s us. There’s really no acting required. We really do truly enjoy each other as much as it looks like we do.”

“We’re just grateful that we get to keep doing it, so we thank you guys for keeping us in business this long. It’s hard to think that we’re 150 episodes in. I mean, that’s insane. I was actually told by Derek Haas — at the beginning of the season, he sent an email to everybody saying that of all of the shows in television history, only 150 or so have made it to seven seasons, and the number only gets exponentially lower after that. That really was a wow moment for us in terms of how grand it is that we’ve been able to do this, and we’ve been blessed to do it this long.”

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Chicago Fire returns Wednesday, January 9th at 9/8c on NBC.

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