A Familiar Face Is Returning to ‘Chicago Fire’ in Wednesday’s Episode

Jesse Spencer’s return to Chicago Fire airs on Wednesday, and the episode will find Matt Casey divided between the life he left behind in Chicago and the life he now leads in Portland. Spencer is coming back for a guest stint in the wake of Taylor Kinney’s leave of absence, which began earlier this year. The actor starred in the first nine seasons and left after the first five episodes of Season 10.

In “Danger Is All Around,” Casey returns to Chicago for personal and professional reasons. He is leading a top-secret task force and needs someone he trusts to represent him in Chicago while he continues working in Portland. He is working with the Department of Homeland Security in Oregon because of potential domestic terror attacks, Spencer told Deadline. Casey found evidence of where future attacks could happen.

“So he gets involved with the FBI, the DHS, and becomes a special liaison for first responders in case these attacks do come to fruition,” Spencer explained. “That’s why he goes to Chicago, to brief first responders to hopefully be able to prevent one or stop one in progress. It’s a pretty serious mission for Casey. He’s had a lot of serious missions before but this one concerns national security. He still considers Chicago home so, he has a special interest in coming back and picking his liaison there.”

Personally, Spencer is heading back to Chicago to catch up with Sylvie Brett (Kara Killmer). They tried a long-distance relationship when he moved to Portland. When Casey returned to Chicago in the Season 10 finale for Severide (Kinney) and Stella Kidd’s (Miranda Rae Mayo) wedding, he and Brett decided to call it quits.

“He’s also back because he wants to see everyone at Firehouse 51, and obviously, catch up with Brett, see if she’s single or not,” Spencer told Deadline. “He’s not told her he’s coming so it’s a bit of a shock to her but they get talking and he finds out that she’s dating someone. But he’s in Oregon, of course, but it feels like his time there is coming to an end. The Darden boys are getting older, doing really well, and are moving on. It feels like he’s there to sniff around Chicago and his old flame and maybe rekindle that fire.”

Spencer’s latest guest stint was confirmed in early March, days after Severide’s leave of absence began. Severide’s onscreen reason for missing is his decision to attend an arson investigation training program. In real life, Kinney is missing a few episodes for personal reasons. It is unclear how many episodes Kinney will miss, while Spencer couldn’t say if he plans to be back for more than one episode.

Chicago Fire airs Wednesdays on NBC at 9 p.m. ET, between Chicago Med and Chicago P.D. All three shows are streaming on Peacock.