When Chicago Fire returns for a second season on September 24, fans will finally see the aftermath of the Shay/Severide/Renee cliffhanger. Taylor Kinney (Severide) was at the NBC TCA party this week and told us there isn’t a ton resolved when we pick back up.
“We ended Season 1 with a bun in the oven from Renee,” Taylor said. “She’s been in Spain so she’s back in the picture for a while, she’s got big news that rocks the boat, certainly for myself and certainly for Shay. And I’ve got two episodes, two scripts so far, we just started Season 2 first episode. Yeah that’s a big dilemma, that’s a big question on the horizon is what Renee’s up to and what we’re going to do with the baby. So as of now, it’s pretty much the same as we left over, only two months down the road she’s still pregnant and having a baby, she’s still having my baby and Shay is still upset.”
Renee, of course, is played by Sarah Shahi, who recently got a gig on the CBS show A Person of Interest. Taylor laughed and said he “doesn’t care”-he wants her around.
“I know that her name comes up in one or two episodes but I’m happy for her getting another gig and getting another show,” Taylor said, “but we’ll see how it pans out with her being recurring on Chicago Fire.”
As far as his character’s relationship with his lesbian BFF Leslie Shay (Lauren German), he loves it and says he’s not sure what is going to happen with their plan of having a baby together.
“I think the loyalty’s there and the friendship,” Taylor said. “It certainly does change the dynamic and it changes the approach that Shay would have towards asking for it, and to continue it because it’d just be a lot on the table.”
Taylor is aware, however, that lesbian fans were not psyched when Shay brought up them creating a baby the old-fashioned way.
“We’ve had a lot of support from everyone across the board with the storyline, the arc, the chemistry and how we work together,” he said. “I think the only time we upset people is when Shay comes in and talks about actually getting together because it upset the gay community. A lesbian wouldn’t do that! I remember that because we talked about it: ‘Well that’s not our relationship.’ It just felt like maybe we were jumping the shark a bit and I think that’s the only bump in the road for those two characters. Other than that, I think that’s one of my-I can’t say enough about Lauren. She’s a great scene partner, a great actor, a great friend, on and off set. I hope to continue that relationship and storyline.”
A true lesbro. Guess he has to be, as his girlfriend is Lady Gaga.
Chicago Fire returns to NBC on Tuesday, September 24 at 10/9 p.m. central.
