‘Chicago Fire’ Welcomes Back a Familiar Face to Fill the Shoes of Jesse Spencer Leaving

It’s been a hard week for Chicago Fire fans who had to watch as Captain Matthew Casey (Jesse Spencer) left Firehouse 51. It’s always sad to see our favorites leave, but thankfully, the firefighting drama isn’t leaving fans hanging because a familiar face is filling his shoes.

On the Oct. 27, 2021, episode, the first back after Matthew left the team after making an important family commitment, Lieutenant Wendy Seager (Andy Allo) is back and working alongside Lieutenant Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) on a new case.

If Wendy isn’t a familiar face to you, she was a short-term recurring character who had a storyline in several episodes in an earlier season. She wasn’t around for too long.

However, with Matthew’s shoes needing to be filled now, she’s probably the best one to step in to give fans the drama and excitement they need this season.

The first time we saw Wendy was during Season 8, Episode 7, titled “Welcome to Crazytown.” It wasn’t clear right away that she would have a multi-episode storyline. But she did know how to keep things interesting.

Wendy is a Lieutenant for the Office of Fire Investigation (OFI), and as a part of the arson investigation team for the fire district, she often worked closely with Lieutenant Kelly. The two would work to solve some key arsons when Kelly was tasked with sorting out the backlog of fires that OFI was investigating.

The last time we saw her was during Season 8, Episode 18, titled “I’ll Cover You,” when she and Kelly had been working on a case involving a motel structure fire that was really suspicious. In order to solve the case, the team turned to a Reddit post that led to the breakthrough they needed.

Wendy was an interesting character because she didn’t shy away from challenging Kelly, and the two had a powerful dynamic together. Given the absence of Matthew, Kelly needs someone else to play off of right now, and Wendy is just the right person to keep him on his toes.

Andy Allo, who played Wendy on Season 8, will be returning to Firehouse 51 for Season 10. However, it’s not clear how many episodes Andy will be reprising her Lieutenant role. If we had to guess, we’d say she’s at least going to be in as many episodes as she was in for Season 8 — it would be strange to bring her back for a short blip, especially on the heels of such a major departure.

However, there’s also the potential for her to stick around long-term. Since she’s only just recently returned to the station, there’s going to be some time before we know for sure.

And how she’s received by the fans is probably going to come into play, too. Especially with Jesse Spencer leaving and how loved his character was, if Andy’s going to join the cast full time, she’s going to have to have some Wendy drama.

During her return, fans weren’t solid on how they feel now that she’s back. Some are flagging that Wendy’s going to become the season villain, while others are excited to see how it’s all going to play out.

Chicago Fire airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. EST on NBC.