Chicago Fire Has a Real-Life Firefighter Among Cast (And Wastes His Character Big Time)
This is one of the longest-serving characters on the show, with little to no development (and almost no lines). Isn't it high time for justice?
Avid fans of Chicago Fire know and love one of the show's most obscure characters – Tony Ferraris.
Despite the fact that the character rarely pleases viewers with his appearance in the series, he has actually been one of the key figures of the show since the first season, and most fans believe that he more than deserves to be "promoted" to the rank of one of the main characters, and have his storyline expanded.
Tony Ferraris appeared on Chicago Fire in the first season when the writers were looking for extras. Since then, he has been a recurring character on the show getting criminally few lines, which has upset many.
Tony essentially plays himself on the show – he is a firefighter in real life, and his experience was useful to the show's creators not only as an actor, but also as a technical advisor – it is Tony who is responsible for making the actions of the firefighters look realistic, and the creators of Chicago Fire even visited Tony's fire station where he showed them how firefighters work.
Considering how long Tony has been on the show and the important role he plays behind the scenes, many fans feel that just a few lines of his character every 5-6 episodes is not what Ferraris deserves.
According to many, Tony has every chance of becoming one of the main characters, getting his own arc and development that would be really interesting for many to watch.
The actor has even appeared in other projects like Chicago Med and Chicago P.D.
As viewers who have not missed a single episode know, Tony's on-screen appearances are limited to monosyllabic lines and sentences, mostly in response to other characters' phrases.
His longest line of dialogue was in the fifth episode of the ninth season, where his character spoke as many as three lines in a row, which perfectly illustrates how little attention Tony receives from the writers.
Tony is a character that many people like for his simplicity, so if the creators of Chicago Fire listen to the fans and bring the character to the forefront a little more, the show will only benefit.
Episode 19 of season 11 of Chicago Fire airs May 3 on NBC.