Chicago Fire Showrunner Derek Haas on the Upcoming Crossover and the One Storyline That Was Almost Different for Benny Severide [Video]

One Chicago fans have come to expect epic crossovers about once a year from Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, and Chicago P.D., and this year’s crossover may just top them all.

Chicago Fire creator and showrunner Derek Haas sat down with reporters during this year’s One Chicago press day to discuss the crossover event. He also gave a few teasers about what we can expect this season and shared one storyline that could have been very different for Benny Severide.

“We’re always just trying to do some cool event that’s going to get you interested in all three hours, and we’re always trying to do something different than what we’ve done before,” Haas began. “This year, we just said, ‘why don’t we get all three shows active in the first hour?'”

This crossover will be centered around an outbreak of flesh-eating bacteria. The crossover will begin with Chicago Fire, then move into Chicago Med and Chicago P.D. in a seamless three-hour event.

“It was Dick [Wolf]’s idea. He was like, ‘let’s do some weaponized biological agent,'” Haas said. “Dick and I conceived the story over the three hours. I was going to write all three, but then that became unfeasible. So I wrote the first one and then Med and P.D. took over after that. But I love the trailer. We’re still shooting it. It’s not done yet.”

One of the highlights of these crossovers is seeing the cast members from the three shows together. “It’s always fun. I have a blast whenever we get the characters from the other shows on to Chicago Fire.”

Watch a portion of the interview with Derek Haas:

On the crossover, we’ll first see evidence of the biological event while cast members from all three shows are at a Chicago Bears game.

“That was such a fun day to shoot because we were out at Soldier Field. There were 500 extras, we had the cast from all three shows, you see it in the trailer. It was just so fun. Because they’re fun — they don’t usually get to work in that kind of situation together.”

As for how the events of the crossover will affect the rest of the seasons, Haas said there is one “storyline going in the first hour that continues on into the series.” 

Haas also talked a bit about how much involvement Dick Wolf has in the stories the shows tell.

“He reads every script and he watches just about every cut of the shows. And he’ll call, and he’ll have input,” Haas said. “Nobody knows story better than him, and nobody knows what’s going to affect an audience better than him.”

There was one story idea Haas remembered Wolf saying no to when Chicago Fire was in its second season.

“We were going to have Benny Severide take over as commissioner of the Chicago Fire department,” he recalled. But Wolf said they’d need to re-think that one, likely because it would mean too much story would need to take place away from Firehouse 51. “That’s the one I can remember and that was in Season 2.”

As for what else we can expect from this season of Chicago Fire, Haas confirmed that Otis’s death would continue to affect the characters.

“You’re going to find that people catch a moment, and it stays. And Kidd is definitely involved in that in a way you won’t expect, so that’s really been fun to write.”

—

Chicago Fire airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on NBC. The One Chicago crossover event will air Wednesday, October 16th beginning at 8/7c.

*Additional reporting by Charles E. Henning

 Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram!

Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!