Matthew Casey


Matthew Casey is a fictional character on the NBC drama Chicago Fire, portrayed by actor Jesse Spencer. Casey is a captain in the Chicago Fire Department on Truck Company 81 at Firehouse 51.
The character has a well-documented feud with the Squad Commander of the Intelligence Unit, Detective/Sergeant Hank Voight, a protagonist in Chicago Fire spin-off Chicago P.D.. The introduction of Voight and other Chicago PD characters eventually led to the creation of the namesake spin-off, in which Voight's full story is further clarified in the first season. Although Voight is shown to be highly dedicated cop and earns the grudging respect of Casey's co-workers, his presence is still met with tension and suspicion from the firefighters of 51 as a result of what happened between him and Casey. Casey's storyline crosses with Voight once again in the season 3 finale of Chicago Fire, as he goes missing after agreeing to help Voight gather information on a client he was doing renovation works for.

Background and characterization

As the leader of the truck company, Casey's cool, standoffish demeanor and no-nonsense attitude sometimes put his crew off, but he is respected by them and highly regarded by Chief Boden. He is extremely private about his personal life, preferring to wallow in his own problems rather than seek help from his colleagues. He sometimes comes across as distant and aloof, as he usually keeps to himself during down time, even when around colleagues in the lounge room. In the season 4 premiere, Herrmann tellingly comments that the way Casey deals with things is "not dealing with it"; of all the characters, he generally confides in Severide or Dawson and only after he is at his breaking point. Despite this, Casey does care for his men and will not hesitate to defend them, even if it means standing up to his superiors and risking his own career. He trusts the men of his truck company implicitly and is generally quite lax with them in good faith that they will maintain professional standards themselves, only disciplining them when he has no choice. However, he is known for being tough with candidates, as seen with Mills, Jones, and Borrelli, and would either personally or have one of his more senior firefighters regularly drill them.
Casey is the son and second child of Gregory and Nancy Casey and is also the younger brother of Christie. He is burdened by his ex-convict mother Nancy, who shattered the family 15 years earlier when she murdered his abusive father. He and his older sister grew distant with each other after their father's death, but they have since mended their relationship. His family still remains a touchy subject and, according to veterans Mouch and Herrmann, there is an unspoken rule within the firehouse that no one is to mention Casey's family or ask him about them. His relationship with Gabriela Dawson is a major storyline throughout the series and they eventually marry in the series' 100th episode.
A skilled handyman and carpenter, Casey freelances as a construction contractor when off-duty. Other characters have consulted him for advice on construction-related issues. For example, he was "consulted" by Herrmann on renovation works and building code compliance for Molly's and built a ramp for a paraplegic accident victim he and his men had rescued.

Character arc

''Chicago Fire''

In the pilot, Casey and Kelly Severide were shown to be good friends since their days at the fire academy and long-time coworkers who are at loggerheads with each other, much to Chief Boden's frustration, over the death of fellow firefighter and close friend Andy Darden due to a bad call. Although they tried to remain professional in front of their men, their spats often made their way into the firehouse off duty to the point where they would indirectly insult each other, with their newest candidate Peter Mills getting caught in the crossfire. They eventually put aside their animosity by the end of the first season. Throughout the show they are often seen putting themselves in danger to assist one another during dangerous calls. Both are known to their men as intensely guarded and reticent about their personal lives but they confide in one another, usually over a beer or sharing a smoke on the firehouse roof.
Darden's death would affect him in following episodes as he was forced to look after Darden's two young sons when Darden's widow Heather is imprisoned for DUI manslaughter. He discovers that he was named their legal guardian in the Dardens' will, and their time together helped develop a strong relationship with the boys. The fact that Heather still kept in contact with Casey was a sore point for him and Severide and she blamed Severide for failing to prevent her husband's death.
He is engaged to Dr. Hallie Thomas for a time, but she tells him she never wants to have children and they decide to break it off, at which point he tentatively pursues Gabby Dawson but they end up staying friends. At the end of the first season in "Ambition", Hallie returns and Casey rekindles his relationship with her but after discovering a drug ring in a clinic she where she worked, she is murdered in the season 1 episode "Leaders Lead". Despite Casey and Severide’s efforts to rescue her from the fire that was set at her clinic, Casey is told by a doctor that Hallie has died, and he begins weeping in Mills’ arms. At the end of season 1 and the prelude into season 2, Gabby shows up at his door helping him cope with Hallie's death. Gabriela Dawson for a long time had a crush on him, but then on a casual date at her cousin's Christmas party, he "kissed her on the cheek" when she tried to kiss him, and from then on Dawson seemed mad at him. In season 2 episode "Rhymes with Shout" he shows up at Gabby's door and kisses her at the end of the episode. At the start of the next episode they are shown waking up in bed together and are in a relationship. In the season 2 episode "Not Like This", Casey risks his life to save a baby in a burning building and is rushed to the hospital in critical condition. When he gets back on the job, he suffers from neurological symptoms such as memory loss, uncharacteristic outbursts of anger and headaches but keeps this from his colleagues, although his erratic behavior is quickly picked up by several veteran coworkers and then-girlfriend Dawson. When he begins to bleed from his ear, he sees a doctor who tells him that it was caused by a crack in his skull and warns him that another hit to the head could be catastrophic. He decides not to tell his colleagues or the Chief, fearing that he would be forced into disability retirement.
After Mills breaks up with Dawson for various reasons Dawson and Casey begin to spend more time together, partially because Casey has to look after Heather's children and asks for help from Dawson and the rest of the fire house. After spending more time together Casey and Dawson decide for the moment they are happy just being friends. Casey eventually gets helps from Dawson's friend, Isabella, to get Heather moved to a minimum security facility so that she can see Griffin and Ben more often. In the episode "No Regrets", Heather gets released due to overcrowding and she decides to move to Florida because she can't live in Chicago without being reminded of both her husband and friend's death. This deeply saddens Casey, but he understands Heather's reasons for leaving. In the episode You Will Hurt Him, Casey and Dawson wake up in bed together the next morning. Dawson still has doubts and fears about Casey's commitment but he tells her "I had a chance at this a year ago and I blew it. I've been regretting it ever since." He further assures his seriousness about his commitment by telling her "As far as I'm concerned, it's our time now." They kiss confirming and starting a relationship. He first proposes to her in the season two finale "Real Never Waits", but before he could get an answer the bells went off and they headed to call in which Shay was killed. This put off his plans for a while but months later in "Wow Me", Casey proposed to Dawson again at the Fire academy, and she happily said "yes" even before he could finish asking the question. The two then go home to have sex. However their happiness was short lived because Dawson joined Truck 81 and therefore as coworkers they could not get married. In "Nobody Touches Anything", the two share their feelings about how they would do anything if they could get married now and seal it with a kiss. This is also short-lived because after they were caught kissing in his truck all things go downhill for the couple. Following Shay's death, Severide moves in with Casey and Dawson. Some of the strain on Casey's and Dawson's relationship comes from Casey's and Severide's relationship; with Casey putting Severide in front of Dawson, such as when Dawson tells Casey to ask Severide to move out and Casey responds by saying Severide "is going to need on his side, so good or bad that's where be". This, amongst other things, leads Dawson into breaking up with Casey in "Let Him Die". In "Headlong Toward Disaster", Severide instantly turns down an order from his chief to spy on Casey. He also tells the chief that Casey is "one of the finest firefighters ever had the opportunity to work with in the entire CFD." Severide is the only person on the show, besides Dawson and Chief Boden, to call Casey by his first name. Casey is the only person on the show to call Severide by the nickname, Sev, while Severide is the only person on the show to call Casey by the nickname, Case.
In the Season 3 episode "Category 5", he knowingly turns down Voight's help with a case of human trafficking that involves with the owner of the strip club, Jack Nesbitt, that Casey is doing contracting on. Nesbitt is a former firefighter and friend and Casey initially took on the project as a favor but senses that something was not right about some of Nesbitt's "business associates". He eventually agrees to help Voight get some intel about Nesbitt. In the season finale, "Spartacus", he is discovered missing when Dawson went to his house to check up on him. However she finds his apartment trashed and torn apart and the dead body of a stripper named Katya who had worked for Nesbitt's strip club while Casey is nowhere to be found, presumably kidnapped.
It is revealed that Katya had been compiling a notebook of evidence with the intention of exposing the trafficking ring running out of Nesbitt's nightclub. She went to Casey's house to ask for help but they are ambushed by Bulgarian criminals who kill Katya execution-style on the spot. For the first several episodes, Casey is seen struggling to come to terms with Nesbitt's betrayal and having to witness a murder in his own home. His inner turmoil is somewhat assuaged when Dawson, who is temporarily on desk duty at the Office of Fire Investigation, reveals to him that she is pregnant with their child. They intended to keep the secret "in-house" but word eventually spreads to their colleagues, even to their contemporaries at the CPD, but Dawson suffers a miscarriage.
His relationship with Dawson became strained when they disagreed over her decision to foster Louie, a boy they had rescued and had no listed next of kin. He comes to accept Louie, much to Dawson's delight. They push for an adoption but a judge tells him that their chances were slim due to the lack of evidence that they were in a committed relationship. In the 100th episode he and Dawson get married and file for the adoption together. However, Louie's biological father files for custody, having just returned from a deployment in Afghanistan and only learned about Louie's existence recently, and succeeds as he was backed by his immediate family members.
In the season 5 finale "My Miracle", his life was left hanging in the balance being trapped in a warehouse fire along with Herrmann, Mouch, Kidd, Otis, Severide and Kannell. His fate would not be revealed until the season 6 premiere, and he calls Gabby "my miracle" in what looks like his goodbye speech to her as he is not sure if he would be able to get out.
In the season 6 premiere "It Wasn't Enough", where we left off from the fire that closed season 5, Boden made the call to open up the water cannon, ordering the men to take cover anyway they could. Casey is seen taking cover using a metal cabinet, as well as shielding a victim. When Boden found Casey, he was passed out under the cabinet with his PASS alarm going off. Then the episode the jumps two months later where the firehouse looks to be at a memorial to his life. they were in dress blues for this, where it turns out Casey receives a medal of valor after the fire and is fine after the fire and he along with the rest of Firehouse 51 return to normal lives.
In "An Even Bigger Surprise", he was promoted to Captain after rescuing a suicidal mentally unstable person from jumping off a building.
In "A Breaking Point", after rescuing Dawson from the collapsed parking garage, he is promoted to Captain. Uniformed personnel clap for him and Dawson and the two hug.
In "Devil's Bargain" he snaps at Ramon and then gets in to it with Dawson. he also has come to blows with Severide after they decide on how to get a patient down who is trapped in wire on a building.
In "Down Is Better", after having learned that Hope, Sylvie Brett's friend from Indiana, had forged a signature from a fire chief, Matt and Chief Boden dismiss her from the fire station.
In "Slamigan", Casey and Dawson was awarded temporary foster guardian of Bria Jamison, a runaway teen who has a painkiller addict father and family members that want nothing to do with her.
In "Law of the Jungle", in the middle of a call of a warehouse fire, Casey and Severide jump off the roof as it explodes. In "The F Is For", after jumping off the roof of the building that explodes, he and Severide jump into the river fully clothed, and while Casey swims and heads to the surface, Severide was injured, and Kidd rescues him. Casey was then comforted by Gabby, and Severide recovers.
In "The Strongest Among Us", he helps Gabby with Bria and helping her get ready for prom. He decides they should have something good to remember so he lets Bria and her date ride in the Truck. After the truck leaves Gabby tells Matt she wants to start trying again which he agrees to.
In "The Grand Gesture", after going to a doctor and finding out Gabby has a 10% chance of dying if she gets pregnant he decides he doesn't want her getting pregnant. He brings up adoption and even looks into it, which makes Gabby upset since she's afraid the same thing will happen that happened to Louie. After a huge fight in the last episode Gabby tells Matt she'll be right back and goes to ask about a job in Puerto Rico while he stays home, not sure where his wife has gone.
In "A Closer Eye", his wife Gabriela, comes back from Puerto Rico only for her to leave once and for all.
In "Going to War", while fighting a apartment fire, Brett expresses blame for Casey for letting Gabby go, only for him to tell her that there was nothing anyone else could do.
In "The Solution to Everything", Casey told Severide that he and Dawson have been divorced. He starts dating a reporter named Naomi and the two enter into a 'fling' but she tells him in "Inside These Walls" that she is going to Zurich. He is surprised but happy that she helped him deal with the departure of his ex wife. Whether or not she will return remains to be seen.
In "A Volatile Mixture", he works with a reporter named Naomi Graham to investigate a series of fires in a brand of trailers, which is later revealed to be caused by the faulty placement of appliances. He and Naomi grow closer and they end up sleeping together in "Always a Catch". In the same episode, his apartment is torched while they are lying in bed, and they barely make it out alive. She leaves to take her next assignment but not before saying goodbye to Casey in "Inside These Walls".
In "You Choose", Brett helps Casey look for an apartment to live in following the fire that destroyed his old apartment. She finds what appears to be the 'perfect apartment', but Casey decides to move in with Severide following his breakup with Stella Kidd.
In "Fault in Him", while on a call for a suicide attempt and getting a clear from one of the officers, he was ambushed by a gunman that had killed his brother. In "Move a Wall", as he deals with his post-traumatic stress stemming from the events before, he takes it out on Herrmann when Ritter gets injured on a call.

Crossover appearances

Casey has appeared on Chicago P.D., mainly in cross-overs. Although he is on friendly terms with most characters, he has a notable grudge against Sgt. Hank Voight due to the fact that he was a victim of Voight's cover as a corrupt cop running with local gangs and was livid by Voight's cover-up of his son's DUI. The animosity has since faded some as Voight saved him from being shot by Jack Nesbitt in the nick of time and assisted Boden in several arson-related investigations. Matt even showed sympathy to Voight after the loss of his son, Justin.