Most shows don’t make it past a few seasons. Chicago Fire is about to start production on what will be its twelfth, putting it in pretty rare company. The show has been through lots of changes over the years, but it’s managed to be consistently entertaining and exciting.
The effort that’s gone into maintaining this consistency is not lost on the show’s cast. Jesse Spencer has been a part of Chicago Fire since day one, and he knows firsthand that keeping the mood light and being open to changes have been key to the show’s success. He elaborated on the subject during an interview with TV Insider.
Is Jesse Spencer friends with the Chicago Fire cast?
“It’s like with the medical field, there’s always another new disease”, he explained. “Most of [the episodes] come from real stories, that’s what I’m still shocked about. A lot of the rescues are stuff that happened to Steve Chikerotis, our fire consultant… he just adapts them.” Chikerotis has been a consultant on Chicago Fire for several years, and is perhaps best known for playing Deputy District Chief Steve Walker.
Real life can oftentimes be stranger, and more entertaining than fiction, so it stands to reason that the show continues to pull inspiration from actual firefighting cases. According to Spencer, though, the real life influence isn’t relegated to the Windy City.
He recounted a story about his grandfather, who was sent to Australia as a convict after he smashed up a machine shop that was taking jobs away from the people, and said that the Fire writing team decided to incorporate elements of it into the show.
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While it may seem counterintuitive, the actor also credited the familiarity of the cast and crew after a decade. “We have a great time”, Spencer added. “We’re so streamlined. It’s like military precision now, we do it in a very short amount of time.”
While there’s a distinct possibility that Spencer will be leaving Chicago Fire in season, we have confidence in the show’s tight structure and ability to keep things moving. The “freshness” of it all has been evident for 11 years, and so there’s no reason to think it will disappear anytime soon.
