Adriyan Rae on ‘Chicago Fire’ and What’s Ahead for Gianna Mackey [Video]

The newest member of Firehouse 51 already seems to be fitting in well.

Adriyan Rae plays Gianna Mackey, the new paramedic joining the firehouse on Chicago Fire. I recently had the chance to chat with Rae about what it was like joining the cast of the NBC series and what we can look forward to from her character. 

Landing the role of Gianna Mackey on Chicago Fire was really a long time coming for Rae. While this was her first audition for Chicago Fire, it wasn’t her first attempt to be part of the One Chicago universe.

“I had been auditioning for the Chicago shows for two years, but it was mainly [Chicago] P.D.,” she said.

Though the audience has only just met the character of Gianna, we already have a pretty good sense of her personality. Rae gave a few hints about what we can expect from her character this season.

“I can tell you about her journey,” she noted, adding that Gianna is “someone who’s been through a lot” and who has “learned that it’s okay to be vulnerable and it’s okay to be human.” 

Watch the full video of this interview with Adriyan Rae:

“She’s in a transition in her life. So I think we can look more look forward to more of that,” Rae hinted. “I don’t know if she will have a love interest, but you know, she’s ready to mingle.”

Rae’s first episode of Chicago Fire also made for quite the introduction, as she found her life in danger pretty quickly. Rae said her exact words when she first read the script for that episode were, “‘Oh shit, this is great!'”

“I thought it was a great intro, and you know, a great way to show her personality and the layers of her without having a bunch of expository writing to do,” she continued. “I thought that was really cool.”

When we first meet Gianna, we find out she’s known Joe Cruz for a long time, and we learn he’s also pretty protective of her. Moving forward, the audience will also get the chance to find out more about the relationship she has with Cruz.

“You will see more of the backstory with Cruz, and you’ll genuinely learn how deep our bond is and where the dynamic comes from. And I think that it will show viewers a different side of both of the characters,” Rae confirmed.

Rae also had a unique connection she has to her character on Chicago Fire, and that’s her medical background.

“I went to school and I got two degrees in medical laboratory science and physician assistant studies, and I’m a certified medical laboratory scientist by the American Society of Clinical Pathology. So it helped because the medical stuff, the jargon, is not jargon to me.”

You can watch the full video of our interview above.

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Be sure to catch Adriyan Rae as Gianna Mackey on Chicago Fire, airing Wednesdays at 9/8c on NBC.

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