The firehouse is becoming increasingly lonely. Following several other cast member exits, Chicago Fire has lost yet another somewhat recent star ahead of the much-anticipated Season 14. Michael Bradway, who first started playing Jack Damon in Season 12, is hanging up his firefighter uniform for the time being and will not be back in Season 14, according to Soaps. Jack Damon was the half-brother of series lead Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney), so his sudden departure is a bit unexpected.

No exact reason was given for Bradway’s sudden exit, though it continues the show’s recent trend of several other cast members leaving the smash-hit One Chicago franchise. Also no longer returning to the show are Jake Lockett and Daniel Kyri, who played Sam Carver and Darren Ritter. Bradway marks the third cast member to leave the show ahead of the new season, which has understandably stirred up quite a bit of speculation within the Chicago Fire fandom. These concerns were recently addressed by Chicago Fire showrunner Andrea Newman, who clarified that Season 14 is still in the very early stages and that Lockett and Kyri’s departures in particular may not be permanent:

“Whether or not they’re going to be part of stories next season, that’s still up in the air. We love these actors so much and the characters are such an inherent part of the show. There could be explosive endings to these stories, but we could also be winding them in a little bit more. Maybe not as regulars, but seeing them come back and play their stories out. We’ll have to see.”

What’s Next for ‘Chicago Fire’ in Season 14?

As stated by Andrea Newman, the fourteenth season of Dick Wolf‘s hit series is still in the early stages, but it’s still guaranteed to come back for Season 14. However, there is something of a catch. While the show is confirmed to return next year, it will also be returning with a lower number of episodes, dropping down from the standard 22 episodes to 21 episodes. Not a significant change, nor an uncommon one for even the most popular television shows (Game of Thrones had a greatly reduced number of episodes for its final seasons), but it is still a subject of concern for fans of the show. Chicago Fire‘s sibling shows, Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med, are also scheduled for future seasons.