Chicago Fire Season 12: Taylor Kinney's Kelly Severide Returns In New Set Photos

More "Chicago Fire" behind-the-scenes photos have hit the internet in the run-up to its 12th season premiere. While many of these shots have focused on Kara Killmer, whose time on the show as Sylvie Brett will be wrapping up after Season 12, one particular set of photos features Taylor Kinney, whose fan-favorite character Kelly Severide is set to return to the series for at least a few episodes in the upcoming season.

Although it appears that the Facebook user who originally shared the photos has since removed them or made them private, "Chicago Fire" fan @learnthingss took to X (formerly Twitter) to share the images on the platform, including one that shows Kinney as Severide, back in his usual squad gear. The image sees the fire cop standing in front of a garage door, flanked by two men in yellow firefighter vests over their gear, though it's hard to tell what type of scene was being shot at that moment.

As reported by Deadline in January 2023, Kinney took a leave of absence from the long-running procedural to deal with an unspecified personal matter. Nine months later, it was revealed that the actor would be returning to "Chicago Fire" for its 12th season. But with Severide confirmed to be back in Firehouse 51, at least for the time being, what can fans expect from him when the NBC series returns to the air on January 17, 2024?

As of Season 11, Episode 15 of "Chicago Fire," Kelly Severide, by that time no longer appearing on-screen, had gone off to join the "best arson investigation training program in the world" in Alabama. During the season's penultimate episode, "Change of Plans," Joe Cruz (Joe Minoso) confirms that Severide is no longer with the program and is working on an investigation with the ATF; neither Cruz nor Severide's wife, Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo), are made aware of this first-hand. As a result, Kidd takes some time off to find her husband in the season finale, not long after he tells her off-screen — albeit rather ambiguously — that there's nothing to worry about regarding his surprise ATF gig.

Given that we now have a photo of Severide wearing his familiar squad gear, it seems that Kidd succeeds in bringing him back to Chicago. But what could this mean for their marriage going forward? In a Reddit thread discussing potential Season 12 storylines, users offered varying theories on the fate of "Stellaride," with u/SiccOwitZ positing that the couple could stay together, with Severide largely an off-screen husband. Original poster u/-AlexTheGreat countered by saying that it wouldn't make sense to keep Kidd's domestic life away from the cameras, given how she is establishing herself as a main character on "Chicago Fire." 

Meanwhile, u/Ok-Investigator-4236 wrote that Taylor Kinney's return, which was then unconfirmed, might be to give Severide a meaningful send-off. "I still have high hopes that Taylor's gonna be back, even if it's for a few episodes, to give a proper closure to his character, even though it'll be hard for the writers to come up with another story line to write him off again," they wrote.