'Chicago Fire' Season 8: A Kelly Severide OFI spinoff would have made the franchise so much better

Kelly Severide was discharged from his duties at the OFI and was also told he could go back to Firehouse 51

UPDATED FEB 6, 2020

Taylor Kinney as Lt. Kelly Severide on 'Chicago Fire' (NBC)

In the first half of Season 8 of 'Chicago Fire', Lt. Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) got the surprise news of his transfer to the Office of Fire Investigations (OFI). Sure, it was a prestigious job, something his father had done before him -- but for Severide it meant leaving his family at Firehouse 51 and what he loved doing most, fire rescue operations.

Undoubtedly, Severide was very good at his job. So much so that he even upset his new boss. Not only was Severide burning through the backlog of cases at the OFI (pun intended), he was also working hard on clearing names of those who were wrongly convicted, and catching serial arsonists along the way.

At the OFI, Severide solved the cases with Lt. Wendy Seager (Andy Allo) who not only worked well with him but also seemed to share some good chemistry -- troublesome for Severide since he was already in a committed relationship with firefighter Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo).

However, once the second half of the season came along -- along with solving the cliffhanger where Severide looked like he was just a couple of minutes away from becoming barbeque meat with a culprit setting off a fire -- things more or less went back to normal.

Severide was discharged from his duties at the OFI and was also told he could go back to Firehouse 51. While this bore great news for fans who were missing Severide with the rest of the firefighters and paramedics at 51, we can't help but think Dick Wolf, Derek Haas and company missed out on a prime spinoff opportunity.

Sure, it would mean a second show revolving around the fictional Chicago Fire Department, and possibly a little redundant considering we already have 'Chicago PD'. But for the little while that Severide was at the OFI, we got some new, exciting stories.

With Severide back at 51, we go back to the same old tempo of weekly rescue missions and drama between the characters. The addition of rookies Darren Ritter (Daniel Kyri) and Blake Gallo (Alberto Rosende) makes for some change, but not as much as with Severide at the OFI.

Would such a spinoff have worked out? We're not sure, but it could have been worth a shot.

'Chicago Fire' airs on NBC on Wednesday nights.