‘Chicago Fire’ Says Goodbye To Steven R. McQueen’s Jimmy Borrelli

Steven R. McQueen‘s last episode on the NBC hit Chicago Fire on Tuesday night, but that might not be the last we see of him.

STEVEN R. MCQUEEN EXITS CHICAGO FIRE

McQueen played Jimmy Borelli, a young, emotional fire fighter who was mourning the loss of his brother. McQueen joined the show in 2015 after being part of The Vampire Diaries since 2009.

Jimmy was introduced to the show via his brother, with whom he had a very rocky relationship. Throughout the course of their time on the show, the brothers made up and became friends, until the brother’s death. The showrunners made it clear that the decision to cut McQueen was not impulsive, it made sense with the story. “It wasn’t out of the blue,” explained Michael Brandt, Chicago Fire co-creator. “It was motivated by his love for his brother and it was also motivated by the decision that Boden made which you know all those things always live in grey areas and they’re always very complicated so it was just a creative [decision.]”

In the show, Jimmy could not accept his superior Boden’s orders, and resisted them during an emergency call. The result was a bad injury. Considering the writers did not kill off Jimmy’s character, it would not be out of the question for his return at a later date.

“Character-wise, you can never burn bridges on a show too badly to not salvage them,” Brandt hinted. “He goes out fighting for what he believes in, and there’s nothing wrong with that. At the end of the episode, there’s a scene between him and Boden where you realize everything is ok between them. Boden respects why Jimmy did what he did. But that said, there are no plans right now to bring Jimmy back to the show.”

This is just the next event in a line of abrupt character exits from the show, including Lauren German, Charlie Barnett, and Dora Madison, who all left the show recently.

Chicago Fire airs on NBC on Tuesday nights at 10 pm.

See highlights from Tuesday’s episode below.