Chicago Fire's Original Script Was Messy And Wrong On So Many Levels
When Chicago Fire was first written in 2011, it was quite different from the show we grew to love later on… And honestly, today, the original script feels like a mess.
It’s always weird to see your favorite fictional world the way it was initially planned to be, and this even includes real-life procedurals like Chicago Fire. After years of being surrounded by these characters and their lore, it just doesn’t feel right to learn that they were supposed to have different relationships, and some were not even there.
While the differences between the final and the initial versions of Chicago Fire might appear subtle at first, the longer you read the original script, the more bizarre it feels. At some point, it almost gives you an Uncanny Valley vibe in terms of how much “this is wrong’s” your brain starts producing. But let’s get to the changes themselves.
First and foremost, the show starts one month after Darden’s death, and we never get to see what really happened back then. However, the tragedy affects the characters more significantly as Severide and Casey hate each other for the loss of Darden way, way more than we’re used to. That’s some pure crystallized hatred.
The characters are also quite different. Vargas virtually replaces Hermann in terms of his importance in the show, and Cruz doesn’t even exist — instead, there’s one Hayes. Boden lives under the pressure of a woman DDC Fittori who tries to force his retirement and treats crew members like Shay and Dawson terribly.
Mouch is 62 years old, and he’s presented as a very old firefighter that had to retire yesterday but forgot to do so. Others’ ages are different, too: Severide, Casey, Shay, and Darden are all 35 (and from the same class), Otis and Dawson are 30, Hermann is 40, and Mills is 23. Oh, and Otis is also not Russian — take it or leave it.
While all the previous aspects were later changed for the better, there’s one thing that we wish was left from the original script: in the 2011’s draft, Casey and Hallie were already married by the time Chicago Fire started. We think this was a better way, and would’ve made quite a difference later down the line.
Source: Chicago Fire Original Script