Chicago Fire's Kara Killmer Defends Her Characters’ ‘Natural Conclusion’

Kara Killmer opened up about her departure from Chicago Fire ahead of her final episode.

“I think this is a natural conclusion for the arc of Sylvie’s character,” Killmer told TVLine in an interview published Monday, February 26. Killmer, 35, has portrayed paramedic Sylvie Brett on Chicago Fire since 2014. After nine seasons in the One Chicago universe, NBC will air Killmer’s farewell episode on Wednesday, February 28, which will showcase Sylvie’s wedding to firefighter Matt Casey (Jesse Spencer).

“I sort of love that she started her journey [when] she was dumped at the altar by her high school boyfriend and runs off to Chicago to start over again,” Killmer said. “And I love that she ends up across the aisle from the love of her life and, obviously, the most eligible bachelor in all of Chicago and Portland.”

She added, “It’s just so satisfying to get to see her have everything that she always wanted and to see the kind of woman she’s become, the sort of paramedic she’s become. She’s really stepped into her own, and so, this is a natural conclusion for her.”

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Us Weekly confirmed in November 2023 that season 12 would be Killmer’s last after starring in the NBC series since season 3. At the time, Killmer did not directly confirm the news of her departure, but she shared several behind-the-scenes photos via Instagram reminiscing about her Chicago Fire tenure.

Since joining the series, Killmer has appeared in over 200 Fire episodes and made cameos on sister shows Chicago Med and Chicago P.D.

“I’m certainly excited to see what other projects are out there, for sure,” Killmer told TVLine, adding that it has been “humbling and aspirational” to portray a first responder for as long as she did.

“I couldn’t be happier to have been in this story space, getting to work with real firefighters and paramedics this long,” Killmer said. “If you’re going to spend 10 years somewhere, you want to spend it in a place like our show, for sure. But yeah, I’m very excited to see what else is out there on the horizon. There’s a lot of interesting content that’s being created right now. And I’m very satisfied with where things end up for Sylvie on Fire.”

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Spencer, 44, on the other hand, announced his departure from Chicago Fire in 2021, though he went on to return for the season 10 finale and has since directed several of the show’s episodes.

“We just love the character and love the actor so much,” co-showrunner Andrea Newman exclusively told Us in April 2022 of Spencer’s brief season 10 return. “We knew that we wanted to have him and he’s a very busy guy, and we also were scared that his schedule would be [booked], but he’s made himself available for this episode, which is fantastic. It’s a long time coming.”

New episodes of Chicago Fire air Wednesdays on NBC at 9 p.m. ET.