Why Dora Madison's Jessica Chilton Left Chicago Fire

"Chicago Fire" has undergone numerous cast changes, several of which have manifested as surprising in-universe events. Dora Madison's departure mid-way through season 4 was certainly somewhat of a shock, if only because her character, Jessica Chilton, seemed to have found a home on the NBC procedural. After Chilton, or Chili as she liked to be known, became Sylvie Brett's (Kara Killmer) new paramedic partner in season 3, Madison was promoted to a series regular in season 4, only for her character to be dismissed by Eamonn Walker's Wallace Boden for drinking on the job. What prompted such a sudden departure? Well, it seems Madison was simply a casualty of the "Chicago Fire" writers' desire to keep viewers on their toes by proving characters could be dismissed when they least expected it

Madison left relatively early, not only in the show's run but in her own tenure. Jessica Chilton was heading for some sort of reckoning, however, as the character had very quickly endured her share of drama after joining the Firehouse 51 crew in season 3, episode 21, "We Called Her Jellybean." A replacement for Peter Mills (Charlie Barnett), Chili proved her worth as a paramedic early on, before entering into a short-lived romance with Jimmy Borrelli (Steven R. McQueen). That fling was cut short after Borrelli was chastised by Jesse Spencer's Matthew Casey. Soon after, Chili's identical twin, Jellybean, was found dead. Then, the paramedic accidentally gave the wrong medicine to a patient and tried to cover it up. Once she was found drinking on the job, she was dismissed.

That explains the character's departure, but why did the series' writers take things in such a direction? Well, according to showrunner Matt Olmstead, it was simply to shock audiences who might've just been getting used to Chili's presence.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, "Chicago Fire" showrunner Matt Olmstead revealed that Dora Madison's Jessica Chilton was written out of the series merely because he and the show's writers didn't want audiences thinking the big departures would only come with season premieres and finales. "You can't just save up the big moments and departures and entrances for characters at episode 1 and episode 22," Olmstead explained. "It almost conditions the audience to be like 'Okay, we'll tune in for the first episode and tune in for the finale because not much is going to happen in between because the writers are too timid to make any kind of moves.'"

According to Olmstead, merely threatening to have cast members leave and "rattl[ing] your saber" simply isn't enough to keep viewers engaged. "Unless you follow through on it, no one is going to believe you," he noted, before going on to add that it was a hard decision to let Madison go so soon after she'd been made a series regular. "We liked the actress a lot," he explained, "and she did a great job."

At the time, Olmstead confirmed there were no plans for Madison to return to the One Chicago universe, and thus far the actor hasn't done so — though she did appear in two episodes of "Chicago Med" during her "Chicago Fire" run. Since her departure, Madison has appeared in several films and two TV series: Viceland's "What Would Diplo Do?" in 2017 and Hulu's "Into the Dark" in 2019. Her former paramedic partner, Kara Killmer also left the firefighting series in season 12. Meanwhile Madison hasn't spoken about her departure from "Chicago Fire" publicly, but there doesn't appear to be any bad blood behind-the-scenes