It’s a reality universally acknowledged that each good community drama should kill off not less than one fan-favorite character in a particularly bleak, cry-until-you’re-dehydrated manner not less than as soon as each few seasons. In relation to “Chicago Hearth,” one of many greatest main character deaths got here within the very first moments of season 8, which claimed the lifetime of Brian “Otis” Zvonecek.
Judging by the heaps of on-line feedback memorializing Otis like he is an actual particular person (critically, try any YouTube video that includes the man), the character who was with Truck 81 because the present’s pilot is maybe probably the most beloved “Chicago Hearth” character ever. The kid of Russian immigrants was humorous and generally underestimated, and he labored his manner as much as a much-coveted engineer place over time. He additionally had deep ties to loads of different key characters, so when the powers that be determined “Chicago Hearth” wanted to up the ante with actual, lethal stakes, Otis ended up biting the mud.
When and the way does Otis die on Chicago Hearth?
On the finish of “Chicago Hearth” season 7, it is clear that somebody is on the chopping block. The season concludes with a significant cliffhanger because the firehouse crew battle an out-of-control blaze at a mattress manufacturing unit. When season 8 returned, the present did not waste a lot time revealing that its high-stakes storyline had a heartbreaking casualty: Yuri Sardarov’s Otis. The group is proven pulling him out of the burning manufacturing unit after a boiler explosion, and it is fairly clear from the way in which the sequence is filmed — and the shock and grief on his coworkers’ faces — that Otis seemingly will not be recovering.
Otis later dies within the hospital after an emotional Joe Cruz (Joe Minoso) pleads with him, asking Otis to go away a spot in heaven open for his finest pal. Otis’ final phrases are to Cruz: “Brother, I can be with you all the time.” In season 10, Cruz’s spouse Chloe (Kristen Gutoskie) has a child named Brian, however the pair resolve to name him Otis in reminiscence of the person who was like a brother to Cruz. It is all extraordinarily unhappy in the way in which that solely long-running community procedurals about first responders might be.
Writers killed off Otis for max emotional impression
In an interview with TVLine in 2019, collection co-creator Derek Haas mentioned that he and the present’s writers’ room wished to kill off a personality after the firehouse crew spent so many seasons escaping near-death experiences with their lives. “We gotta put some tooth again into the present, and we gotta present that the risks are actual,” Haas remembered telling head writers Michael Gilvary and Andrea Newman throughout a summer time hiatus. Haas admitted that he did not initially know who, if anybody, would die within the mattress manufacturing unit fireplace when he wrote the tip of season 7, however he spent about an hour chatting with govt producers Dick Wolf and Peter Jankowski concerning the concept of killing off Otis.
“Dick, who attracts on extra expertise than anybody on the planet, mentioned, ‘So long as you are sincere with the storytelling, the viewers will go along with you,'” Haas advised TVLine. He additionally mentioned the writers at one level thought of the concept of killing Darren Ritter (Daniel Kyri) as a substitute, however wished it to be a core forged member quite than a comparatively new addition who may very well be perceived as being doomed from the beginning for the sake of fine TV. “We simply determined it will be Otis as a result of he lives with Cruz and Brett, and he is on Casey’s truck, and he is in Boden’s home, and he is finest pals with Mouch, and owns a bar with Herrmann,” Haas defined, implying that the fan-favorite is likely one of the solely characters whose dying would impression each different character and ripple out throughout future seasons.
Haas advised TVLine that he personally broke the information to Sardarov, who’d been his pal since earlier than their “Chicago Hearth” days. “From a private standpoint, it is actually tough as a showrunner to inform an actor, ‘Hey, that is what we’re considering,’ whenever you not solely know them as a extremely nice actor, but additionally as only a good particular person and pal,” Haas mentioned, however he additionally mentioned Sardarov was “skilled” and “gracious” — partly as a result of he, too, is a author who understands the concept of doing one thing in service of story.
Who changed Otis on Chicago Hearth?
Otis’ dying episode included a three-month time soar that each allowed his coworkers to attempt to transfer on and revealed simply how very important he was to Firehouse 51. An episode later, audiences meet Blake Gallo (Alberto Rosende), a brand new firefighter with a tragic backstory and a willingness to dive straight into any rescue state of affairs, whatever the hazard. Whereas it takes some time for the crew to get used to Gallo and he does not function a 1 to 1 alternative for Otis, the character ultimately turns into a part of the group. Gallo sticks round for 80 episodes of “Chicago Hearth” (virtually precisely half as many episodes as Otis) and ultimately moved to Michigan to attach along with his newly found prolonged household. Rosende advised Deadline that he determined to maneuver on from the present.
Although Gallo is the obvious alternative for Otis when it comes to timing, the newest seasons of “Chicago Hearth” have launched quite a few new recruits, a few of whom have turn out to be fan favorites in their very own proper. Daniel Kyri’s Ritter caught round after his season 7 debut (and have become half of a dynamic duo with Gallo), and Sam Carver (Jake Lockett) additionally joined the squad. This season, “My Greatest Buddy’s Marriage ceremony Actor” and secretly super-talented cellist Dermot Mulroney got here on board as the brand new Chief of Firehouse 51, whereas Adriyan Rae, Jocelyn Hudon, and Hanako Greensmith have all performed paramedics since Otis died in season 8.
Yuri Sardarov was additionally prepared to maneuver on to different initiatives
It is price noting that whereas collection co-creator Derek Haas takes accountability for killing off Otis, Sardarov has additionally indicated that he was prepared to maneuver on from the present after years spent on one venture. In an interview with Inform Story TV in 2019, he admitted: “It was tough, however it was additionally crucial. It was a mixture of me wanting to maneuver on and them needing one thing akin to what is going on to occur. And I feel these two issues met on the excellent time.”
Sardarov recalled chatting with Haas, who he mentioned he first labored with when he was in faculty, on the finish of season 7. From the sounds of it, he floated the concept he was okay leaving in the identical dialog wherein Haas pitched Otis because the character who might give season 8 its huge, weighty premiere dying. “We had a dialogue concerning the character and the place he was headed, and I used to be very upfront with him about the truth that it has been eight years, and I began once I was 22, and now I am 31,” he mentioned. “The communication was very open and sincere, and we each walked away from it feeling actually good.”
“He is in the beginning of his profession, and this is not his swan tune by any stretch,” Haas advised TVLine when talking positively of Sardarov. It is true: Since leaving “Chicago Hearth,” the actor has already taken on different roles, together with visitor spots on “The Rookie” and “FBI: Worldwide” and roles within the movies “Adam,” “Daddy,” and “Amy and Peter are Getting Divorced.” Plus, Haas was proper concerning the tear jerking twist — six years later, it stays one of many present’s most-discussed moments.
