CHICAGO FIRE: Miranda Rae Mayo Reflects on Stellaride’s Big Decision, Plus Teases Tension with Damon

September 30, 2024 by Marisa Roffman

CHICAGO FIRE — “Ride the Blade” Episode 13002 — Pictured: (l-r) Christian Stolte as Randy “Mouch” McHolland, Miranda Rae Mayo as Stella Kidd — (Photo by: George Burns Jr/NBC)

CHICAGO FIRE’s Firehouse 51 has always been extraordinarily close—with relationships and friendships blossoming in the tight quarters—but things have gotten a little bit more messy with the addition of Jack Damon (Michael Bradway).

In the season 12 finale, Damon revealed to Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) that they were half-brothers via their father, Benny. And now Damon (who kept his paternity a secret for weeks) is working on Truck 81, under the command of his sister-in-law Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo).

“In her mind, when it comes to him being her brother-in-law, that all can be developed outside of the firehouse,” Mayo tells Give Me My Remote. “I do think that there is a part of her that is excited, wants to take him under her wing—but she does feel really, really irritated and triggered by the way that he’s not forthcoming. That’s what makes it really, really difficult for her to be soft and more, for lack of a better word, tender with him. She gives Damon a lot of tough love because she doesn’t feel like he shoots her straight.”

But things get even more complicated on the Wednesday, October 2 episode, “Ride the Blade,” as Damon disobeys Kidd’s orders while they’re out on a call…and he turns to his half-brother for help.

“She can kind of see him leaning on Severide, gravitating towards Severide, and there’s a part of her that’s like, ‘No. Come here. When we’re at the firehouse, you’re with me. You’re on my company. Get over here,’” Mayo previews. “But we’ll see in episode 2 [that] she tries to meet him where he’s at. We see her react on a call when Damon doesn’t follow orders and then we see her come back, gather herself, and think, in her mind…in the Boden way, ‘How do I meet him where he’s at? How do I ‘yes, and’ the situation? How do I work with what he’s given me?’”

“It’s a sticky situation,” she continues. “I think that Severide is definitely putting pressure on himself to show up for this young man because of the ways that he was neglected by Benny and the ways that he feels he got shorted. And, at the same time, if that comes between his relationship with his wife—that is also massively important to Kelly. We’ve seen throughout the years that his marriage is important to him; his wife is of the utmost importance to him. So juggling those two…I think [Severide]’s in the toughest position of the three.”

CHICAGO FIRE — “Port in the Storm” Episode 12006 — Pictured: (l-r) Miranda Rae Mayo as Stella Kidd, Taylor Kinney as Kelly Severide — (Photo by: Adrian S Burrows Sr/NBC)

While the couple was adjusting to the unexpected new addition to their family, they also took a very big step in the season 13 premiere: After thinking it over, Stella told Kelly she wasn’t ready to have kids yet.

Mayo praises how CHICAGO FIRE boss Andrea Newman has handled the storyline, noting the showrunner has “been so open to collaborating, hearing my thoughts.”

“It’s a really juicy conversation,” Mayo says of the couple’s decision to pause expanding their family. “We’ve seen Stellaride be sturdy and go through so many trials and tribulations, and come out on the other side strong, stable, cemented together. And this is something that could potentially cause maybe the most tension in their relationship that we’ve seen. This could potentially be a really big issue, depending on where they both land.”

“But I think [for] Stella, she’s just not ready yet,” she continues. “She has a bit of a perfectionism paralysis, right? Because she didn’t come from a stable, happy home, there’s a part of her that is like, ‘I just don’t want to mess a kid up. If we’re going to have kids, I really want to do it well; I want to do it right.’ And also her career means a lot to her. She doesn’t want to have to give up what she’s worked so hard for to be a mother.”

“And I think that’s why we see her taken aback at the end of last season,” she concludes. “For him to say that he’s ready to have kids now—which is how he feels, and that’s good that he’s communicating how he feels; that’s wonderful—it requires so much more of her than it does of him. And she’s not ready to give that much up at this time in her career.”

While the issue was quasi-resolved, for now, it’s “definitely more simmering on the back-burner” in upcoming episodes.

“There are quite a few calls with children, though,” Mayo says with a laugh. “So we see Kidd seeing all these kids [in peril], just like holding it together.”

CHICAGO FIRE — “Ride the Blade” Episode 13002 — Pictured: (l-r) Joe Miñoso as Joe Cruz, Miranda Rae Mayo as Stella Kidd, David Eigenberg as Christopher Herrmann, Taylor Kinney as Kelly Severide — (Photo by: George Burns Jr/NBC)

It’s a season of change for Kidd, who is also trying to adjust to the firehouse’s new leader, Chief Dom Pascal (Dermot Mulroney)—and the loss of Boden, who accepted a promotion to become Deputy Commissioner. (As Kidd noted, Boden wasn’t just her boss—he was the man who walked her down the aisle; he was a pillar in her life.)

Without the safety and comfort of having Boden as a boss, “she’s learning she does have an attitude,” Mayo says with a laugh. “She is also learning where her strengths and weaknesses are as a leader. One of the things that I really appreciate about Stella is she can get emotional, but she’ll come back around and she’ll be able to process and to admit where she’s wrong. I really appreciate that about her. That’s one thing she’s really juggling this season: She’s really juggling having these feelings of strong resistance to her direct boss, to her direct higher-ranking officer, and still moving forward.”

“But that’s something that she’s experienced coming up in the firehouse,” she continues. “We saw [earlier in the series] an old chief that she had that was just awful. But being at home, and working with Boden for so long, there was a certain comfort that she came to know. Now that that is not there, there’s some adjusting that she’s needing to do.”

But, as always, Stella Kidd will persevere. “I think she’s just doing her best to do her job,” Mayo says. “You’ll see in episodes 2 and 3, she is struggling to bite her tongue and not react to the ways that [Pascal] questions her and the ways that he challenges her.”

“I honestly feel like Severide is also a good foundation, a sturdy rock in her life,” she continues. “I imagine if things weren’t going well at home, oh my God, I think it would be a lot harder for her to keep it together at work. But I am proud [of Stella]. I’m proud of that woman because she handles her s—.”

CHICAGO FIRE, Wednesdays, 9/8c, NBC

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