Chicago Hearth has proved time and time once more that it’s not for the faint of coronary heart, for causes ranging from the suspenseful stunts to the fact that the NBC drama isn’t afraid to kill off characters. Probably the most heartbreaking was the dying of Brian Zvonecek, a.ok.a. the lovable Otis. The character was a part of Casey’s Truck 81 crew from the very starting till he was certainly one of a number of whose lives have been in jeopardy on the finish of Season 7, just for Season 8 to premiere and kill him off. Actor Yuri Sardarov has shared his emotions on Otis’ dying, and why it was truly mandatory.
The dying of Otis was a tear-jerker on the time and no much less unhappy now, if you wish to revisit the Season 8 premiere streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription. Yuri Sardarov’s beloved character was injured early on within the episode, and Otis was lifeless by the primary industrial break after regaining consciousness simply lengthy sufficient to say his final phrases (in Russian) to Cruz. Sardarov spoke with Inform-Story TV in regards to the fateful twist for his character again in 2019, sharing that he’s spoken with then-showrunner Derek Haas on the finish of Season 7, and he continued:
Derek and I am going approach again. I truly did a movie in faculty with him and Mike Brandt once I was nonetheless a senior on the College of Michigan, so we’ve been shut for a very long time. We had a dialogue in regards to the character and the place he was headed, and I used to be very upfront with him about the truth that it’s been eight years, and I began once I was 22, and now I’m 31. The communication was very open and sincere, and we each walked away from it feeling actually good.
Sardarov was nonetheless a really younger actor when Chicago Hearth premiered again in 2012, and spending seven full seasons in primetime on NBC meant that almost all of his skilled appearing profession by the point of Otis’ dying had been set in One Chicago. After I spoke with showrunner Derek Haas in regards to the character’s demise in 2019, he recommended Sardarov for being “so gracious {and professional}” in agreeing to come back again for the Season 8 premiere to complete off Otis’ story. The actor went on in sharing his personal perspective:
Going into the eighth season, typically you want one thing that’s going to get the engines revved up a little bit bit, and what higher approach to try this than to kill somebody so beloved and somebody so heat and candy and humorous? I believe in some ways, Otis is the one character that individuals don’t count on to die. It was troublesome, but it surely was additionally mandatory. It was a mix of me wanting to maneuver on and them needing one thing akin to what’s going to occur. And I believe these two issues met on the good time.
As any person who went by her justifiable share of tissues whereas watching the Season 8 premiere, I can agree that it packed a punch to see any person as heat, candy, and humorous as Otis die! His dying was additionally one of the crucial ugly throughout the One Chicago reveals, because the digital camera truly lingered on the severity of his burns. Derek Haas shared with CinemaBlend that there was a cause why Chicago Hearth went so ugly for Otis’ dying, and there’s no denying that Joe Minoso – whose Cruz went by some severe development afterwards – turned in a improbable efficiency in response to it.
Yuri Sardarov did truly return to Chicago Hearth after the Season 8 premiere, though not as a result of Otis was magically resurrected. Otis appeared within the midseason finale of Season 8 (which additionally featured the return of Monica Raymund as Gabby Dawson) by way of flashback, with Sardarov reprising the position. Whereas he hasn’t been again since, Cruz named his son after his fallen pal, and the memorial to Otis at Firehouse 51 continues to be standing. The actor did return to the Dick Wolf TV universe, nevertheless, with a visitor look in Season 2 of FBI: Worldwide on CBS earlier in 2023.
If you wish to revisit Otis’ time on Chicago Hearth (or his tragic dying), you’ll find the complete run of the hit sequence to this point streaming on Peacock. Whereas Hearth (together with Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med) was renewed for the 2023-2024 TV season, the WGA writers strike and SAG-AFTRA writers strike started earlier than manufacturing may start on new One Chicago episodes for the autumn within the 2023 TV schedule, and the wait is on for when the reveals will truly be again.
