Jesse Spencer’s (House M.D.) firehouse drama, Chicago Fire is all new tonight on NBC. Last week the show shocked fans by killing off a major character. Now the show’s executive producer, Matt Olmstead, opened up about killing the lesbian character, Shay (Lauren German).
The official plot synopsis for tonight’s all new episode, titled “Wow Me,” reads:
“A distraught Severide returns to Firehouse 51. Meanwhile, Dawson looks forward to her candidacy at the Austin Firehouse; Mills uncovers more details about his family; and Herrmann looks for ideas to improve business at Molly's.”
Last week the series said goodbye to Lauren German’s character Shay, in the emotional Season 3 premiere. Matt Olmstead, the show’s executive producer, recently spoke to TV Line about how he made the decision to kill of Shay:
“Going into it, we knew if we were going to do it, it had to be someone who was going to give us a big impact, as opposed to going for a lesser-known character, which would equate to a pulled punch. So, as opposed to approaching it with timidity, we thought we’d go for it... In the writers’ room, we have [photos of] all the actors in character lined up just as a visual reference. We went down, one by one… It’s like a roster of a sports team when you’re having to make a cut. You’re having to weigh the pros and cons of each one. Some we moved off in two seconds, said that wasn’t going to happen. Others we debated, but we gave everybody a day in court. We came back to Shay because it affected the most people.”
Olmstead went on to add that Shay being a lesbian had nothing to do with them deciding to kill her off.
“There was no agenda either way. All the characters were assessed on equal footing, so there wasn’t any kind of, ‘Let’s not do this for this reason, not do that for that reason.’ As storytellers, you have to be unsentimental sometimes. Having done it before, when characters have been killed, absolutely, initially, there’s a very strong reaction, especially from the faction that was really into that character. My policy is really not to go right away and read the comments moments after. You’ve got to let it set a little bit and trust that strong storytelling is going to be strong storytelling.”
Be sure to check out the all new episode of Chicago Fire tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern on NBC.
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