Summer is finally over, which means the best season of the year is here.
That’s right: It’s fall premiere time, and One Chicago is ready for action.
We know you’re as ready to return to the Windy City as we are, and we conducted an exclusive interview to rev up your engines!
TV Fanatic had the opportunity to interview Andrea Newman, an industry veteran with an impressive resume. She has appeared on shows such as “Felicity,” “24,” “Cold Case,” “Point Pleasant” and “The Secret Circle.”
Andrea currently serves as showrunner for Chicago Fire. In our interview, she talks about the show’s unique dynamics, how fresh it feels after so many years, and what we can expect from the Season 13 premiere.
Talking to Andrea is like talking to a Chicago Fire super fan. She’s passionate and proud of the show, and for good reason – it’s a huge hit, attracting millions of loyal viewers every week.
After meeting this passionate producer, I now know what the heart of the show is. It was a pleasure talking to Andrea. I’m so excited to share this conversation with you all!
Andrea, Hi! Thank you so much for meeting me today! First of all, congratulations on reaching the thirteenth season! This is incredible!
Hi Haley! Thank you, Lucky Thirteen!
Yes, absolutely! Thanks again for taking the time to chat today. I know our readers are eager to get back to 51, so they’ll be happy to hear from you.
Love it!
You’ve worked on several big shows over the course of your career, including Private Practice, 24, Cold Case and, of course, most recently, Chicago Fire.
How did your experience working on other hit primetime shows influence the way you approached filming “Chicago Fire”?
This is an interesting question! You know, I think what’s really unique is that every crew member is different, every cast member is different, and you get to know the cast and crew.
But in this case, after thirteen years, you will really become a family. This is different. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. I mean, no show lasts that long. So crazy!
A lot of our actors have been here since the beginning, and it’s been fun to watch how that all evolved and how the characters evolved over such a long time. It was truly a completely different experience than what I was used to.
The really interesting thing about Chicago Fire is that it was really inspired by all of these things that I did.
I’ve done comedies and romantic comedy-type things like “Felicity,” and I’ve done drama and police procedural stuff like “24” and “Hardcover,” and soap operas like “Private Practice,” which The show has all of those things. This is five performances in one.
It’s a challenge because you’ve got comedy, you’ve got relationships, you’ve got action. So in a way, all of this [shows] Knowing to come here and be able to do something that has such breadth.
I think that’s really important – you’re talking about having such a great cast from the beginning, which is really rare.
Even for those TV series that have endured, we haven’t really seen actors last thirteen years. It’s really impressive – I think it reflects the environment and culture you create there.
Yes, I think so. It’s funny, we were just talking about Eamon [Walker]Obviously he’s not here this season, but he’s a part of it.
He came in as an actor with real experience, and there were a lot of young actors who were new and hadn’t done a lot. So they were really counting on him to lead the way.
He was such a warm, fatherly presence and he created this atmosphere for a group of people who loved being around each other, having a good time and totally respecting each other.
I think that set the stage for the show in a lot of ways, so we were lucky to have him. His presence is still felt in many ways in the people he assembled, the cast he assembled, and the shows he assembled.
Absolutely. I already know Eamon’s presence will be missed as a regular guest. A lot of fans were upset to see him go, but we’re glad he’s still around.
He will! His presence is still there and we will definitely see him in an episode or more.
Great, glad to hear that! So when we learned [Eamonn Walker] As the show is exiting and Commissioner Borden is set to be replaced, news has emerged that Dermot Mulroney will be joining the cast of Season 13.
We’re so excited about this, huge Dermot Mulroney fans! We hear he’ll be playing the new chief, Dom Pascal. What can you tell us about this new role?
The character was so much fun to write and then Dermot came along and brought so much to the character. He was awesome and we had a lot of fun with him.
From the beginning, we knew we didn’t want to have a leader like Boden, and whoever came in was going to be very different and feel very different—oh my God, Pascal is different from Boden! He’s a mysterious figure; we really have a lot of layers to peel back.
He’s not a great speaker; he’s not a “give you a hug” guy. He acted cautiously and took a new approach. He said from the beginning: ‘I’m not trying to be Borden; I’m just trying to be Borden.’ I’m carving my own path here. Things will change.
So, everyone’s going to have a different reaction to that, and it’s been really fun writing these characters.
People you think might click aren’t necessarily people who click, and when people you thought were going to be oil and water suddenly come together, surprising connections can form. It really shook up the whole fire station and all the dynamics.
The audience gets a glimpse [Pascal] We get to know his personal life before the other characters, so we know even more about him than we did at the firehouse in the first few episodes.
So we’ll get an inside look at just how curious this man was and how much of his personal life he kept hidden from the fire department.
This is so exciting! I’m really excited about this role and seeing some new blood on the show.
Yes! It’s really interesting to see how one character – he’s the leader of the fire department, so it’s an important role – affects all the dynamics, all the relationships. This will be interesting as the series progresses.
We lost four of our main characters last year, so we’re really looking forward to seeing new blood and fleshing out some of the other new characters.
I will say that our readers and I are a little anxious to see what the future holds for Seyfried and Stella, especially with everything revealed in the finale about Damon and his identity. Is there anything you can tease about their next plans?
Well, they both have big decisions to make. It affects the future of their relationship, the decisions they make, and what Severide’s relationship with Damon actually involves.
Oh, okay! So, I have to ask – it’s not easy to run a show with two spin-offs at the same time. How do you keep Fire fresh and organic while maintaining continuity with PD and Med?
We work closely with these people. We see them all the time. Like, the hallway chat would turn into a little mini-crossover and all of a sudden, “Oh yeah, that would be fun, why don’t we have Trudy in this episode.”
In terms of keeping it fresh and keeping the story sparkling and fresh, I always say “truth is stranger than fiction.”
We have a lot of firefighters on the show, we have firefighter consultants, some of our actors are firefighters – you know, Ferrari, who plays Tony, is a real firefighter – and we have a bunch of firefighters on the fire truck.
They tell us their stories. We are always talking and hearing about what is going on and happening in the world and on the streets of Chicago.
We’re bringing it back and there’s always something new and surprising that we can play into the story and the action.
This is really cool. That’s what makes it feel so realistic.
Yes, we keep it real. Steve Chikerotis is a long-time firefighter and deputy commissioner who is a big part of our show. He is a producer of the show.
He was always on set making sure everything was real. He always brings the voices of other firefighters as well. He would say, “The firefighters who are watching love it when we keep it real and do it one way or another.”
We do try hard, especially emotionally, to keep it real, but when we do something, there’s always a firefighter there to make sure it’s legal and what they’re actually going to do.
From a fan’s perspective, it’s cool that we get to see something so authentic.
I also think the fact that we have both comedy and drama is so true to Firehouse. We ride together, and the kind of humor that keeps one alive in dark or difficult situations is a vital part of any first responder’s life. I love reflecting on the show and creating moments of comedy and levity.
marvelous. In a previous interview, you mentioned that Season 12, even though it only has 13 episodes, feels like a full 22 episodes. Are you excited about returning for a full season? Is this scary? How do you feel about this?
This is a good question. I think 22 [episodes] Let you develop things the way we’re used to. Our build went through twists and turns and things like that. I like having the full 22 characters because you can use characters from 1 to 22.
It feels like a year in one’s life. To me, that’s great. Being able to do so much and explore so much, especially with such a large cast, is a gift for a writer. We want to hit all of these characters as much as possible. So, yeah, 22 is great for us. We love it.
Of course we do too! We missed seeing all the different characters and their individual stories last season, so we’re also excited to have it back.
Yes, so do we. That’s great to hear; thank you.
Well, it was great chatting with you! I really appreciate you taking the time to chat today. I know our readers would love to hear from you.
certainly! I’m excited that you’re excited about it too.
I really think people are going to love it this season. I really do.
Dermot is a great addition and has lots of fun stuff to play with, so hopefully everyone has a great time riding this season.
Fire fans, this is it!
Leave your thoughts in the comments and let us know what you’d like to see when we return to the firehouse at the end of the month.
We’ll see you on September 25th at the Chicago Fire Season 13 premiere.
