Chicago Fire Hits 300 Episodes: Taylor Kinney on a Milestone He Never Imagined

"Chicago Fire" reaches its 300th episode on November 4, and Taylor Kinney — the actor who has played Kelly Severide since the show launched in 2012 — says the milestone never seemed possible. The episode, titled "Three Hundred," airs at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.

Kinney has appeared in every single season of Dick Wolf's firefighter drama, the series that launched the One Chicago franchise. "Chicago P.D." is currently in its 14th season; "Chicago Med" is in its 12th. Yet longevity on that scale was not part of his early calculations.

"I remember going to Upfronts in New York, going into Season 2 or 3, and running into Mariska Hargitay," Kinney says. "She had just got done negotiating her deal for season 16 or 17, and that was a whole other thing — it wasn't even in my brain that something like that would be possible, let alone in the cards."

Where did Kinney start?

Before "Chicago Fire," Kinney's career was a string of pilots and uncertainty. "In L.A. I didn't have a vehicle. I was on public transit, and catching thumb rides to auditions and castings all over the city," he remembers. "I was at Kinko's printing out my resumes and headshots. So I'm just grateful."

The distance traveled — from Kinko's printouts to a 300-episode network anchor role — is not lost on him.

Why is episode 300 an emotional one?

The milestone hour doubles as a farewell. It marks the final episode for Joe Miñoso's Joe Cruz, who has also been with the show since the beginning. Miñoso is not leaving the Wolf family entirely, according to executive producer Peter Jankowski, who also serves as COO of Wolf Entertainment.

"Joe has been an integral part of 'Chicago Fire' since day one and he will always be part of the Wolf family," Jankowski says. "We are very excited he is scheduled to direct his first episode of television later this year."

Kinney describes filming the last Severide and Cruz scene as a "visceral, raw" experience. The bond, he explains, was built over years of punishing schedules.

"We spend a lot of time together, and at times, more than family," he says. "Starting out, these were 15- to 16-hour days, sometimes six days a week. Joe's been my right-hand man for the past almost a decade, and there's a lot of time spent looking someone in the eye, telling the truth. It's just an intimate relationship. So to have a scene where the art imitates life and vice versa… it was raw, it was real, and it was honest. I cherish that moment, and that'll be with me forever."

Can the stories stay fresh?

What does a 300-episode procedural do next? Jankowski is not worried. "The firehouse stories will stay fresh as long as our characters remain real and grounded," he says, noting that viewing habits have shifted since the series began 14 years ago. "When we began the series, most people saw us exclusively on NBC. Today, we do well on Peacock and are active on social media."

NBC chairman Pearlena Igbokwe credits the show's community for its endurance. "There's something incredibly powerful about watching these characters put themselves on the line for others and, just as importantly, show up for one another," she says. "That bond is what has made Firehouse 51 feel like home to audiences and helped One Chicago continue to welcome new fans year after year."

Igbokwe's verdict on the show's standing is direct: "Dick Wolf's vision, and the tremendous commitment of our writers, producers, cast and crew, have made 'Chicago Fire' a modern-day television classic."

With Miñoso moving behind the camera later this year, and the franchise still expanding across platforms, the 300th episode looks less like an ending than a pivot point for a series that has outlived nearly all of its competition.