CHICAGO FIRE Post-Mortem: Derek Haas on the Unexpected Return

[This post contains spoilers for the CHICAGO FIRE season 7 premiere.]

Surprise! Monica Raymund wasn’t quite done with CHICAGO FIRE just yet.

Though the actress announced she was leaving the long-running drama in May, she returned for a guest spot in the season opener, “A Closer Eye,” as her character, Dawson, FaceTimed Casey (Jesse Spencer) from Puerto Rico…before returning home to reveal she was moving there permanently.

“I was so thrilled she came back for one episode; I was basically begging,” CHICAGO FIRE executive producer Derek Haas told reporters in the video below. Haas admitted Raymund gave him “plenty of notice” that she wouldn’t be returning, but he assumed it was more of a negotiating move; when he realized she was serious, he told her “if you give me one [episode], I can write a better ending to this character.”

And while Dawson is gone for now, Haas would love to have Raymund return at some point: “The door is open, absolutely,” he said, calling himself her biggest fan.

Check out the video for more, including Haas’ original plan for how Casey would have figured into Dawson’s Puerto Rico arc…

CHICAGO FIRE, Wednesdays, 9/8c, NBC

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