Warning: spoilers are ahead for Episode 16 of Chicago Fire Season 14, called “Firehouse 66” and available streaming next day with a Peacock subscription.
Chicago Fire fans had a lot to be happy about heading into the latest episode of the 2026 TV schedule, as NBC has officially guaranteed a Season 15 with the renewal of all three One Chicago dramas. That said, “Firehouse 66” was an odd episode of the long-running show with the majority of the main cast members absent, and I thought I knew where Severide‘s story was going… until Cruz dropped news I wasn’t expecting, and now the Squad 3 lieutenant’s future is a lot more uncertain thanks to Chief Hopkins.
Cruz Had Big News
“Firehouse 66” featured the return of none other than Chloe, and her first scene of the episode involved her prompting Cruz to finally tell Severide something. Since the departure of Chief Pascal seemed at least partly in service of promoting Severide to Captain at the CFD and taking over Firehouse 51, I was imagining that Cruz was going to open up about passing the lieutenant’s exam and being ready to serve as a Squad officer.
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Everything would line up neatly in this scenario: just after Severide aced the captain’s exam, Cruz aced his, and then Cruz could just take that vacancy, and all would be right with the world. I don’t know if that’s in the realm of possibility for the real-life CFD, but who really watches One Chicago on the condition of realism from start to finish? Everything would stay in the 51 family.
Instead, Cruz had a different kind of good news: Chloe is pregnant! Yes, their family is going to grow from four to give, with Chloe’s due date far enough in the future that the new baby could be part of Cruz’s Season 15 storyline. The big twist actually had nothing to do with the hierarchy of Firehouse 51, which isn’t exactly great news for Severide in light of what he learned about Chief Hopkins.
Hopkins Has It Out For Severide
In case anybody thought that Chicago Fire just replaced Dermot Mulroney‘s Dom Pascal with Stranger Things‘ vet Rob Morgan as Chief Hopkins for the sake of having a less hands-on chief to smooth the way for Severide to settle into the top job at 51, Hopkins proved you wrong over the course of “Firehouse 66.” He dropped by 51 for a visit, which he then dedicated his entire day to, and Severide was his top target for criticism.
In fairness, some of Hopkins’ comments technically weren’t out of line as somebody new to 51. It is somewhat odd that Severide and Stella are allowed to work on the same shifts, for one, and the famous feeling of family at 51 might seem a little too casual to outsiders. But Severide could tell that there was more to Hopkins dragging him over the coals than just being a stickler for rules, and it turns out that the new chief has been nursing a grudge against Benny Severide for years.
Benny had suspended him from duty back in the day, and time evidently doesn’t heal all wounds when it comes to Hopkins. He doesn’t like Severide because he thinks Benny’s son got too many automatic advantages by virtue of his last name. Basically, Hopkins seems to see Severide as the CFD version of a nepo baby, and while he didn’t have the power to confront Benny over his misdeeds, he definitely does have power over his son now.
And if that wasn’t enough bad news for good old Kelly, Hopkins announced that he intends to make Firehouse 51 his permanent home base, so the big office is about to be filled again. Severide isn’t just going to accept it, though, especially after learning that he had indeed aced the captain’s test. He stormed off to Van Meter‘s house, where he delivered a fiery speech about being ready to fight back. It was enough to convince Van Meter that Severide really does want the top job at 51, and this may be the arc that carries Kelly through the rest of Season 14.
Find out with new episodes of Chicago Fire on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC, between Chicago Med (which just delivered a doozy of a cliffhanger for Dr. Charles) at 8 p.m. ET and Chicago P.D. at 10 p.m. ET. You can also find all three shows streaming on Peacock.
