Chicago Fire season seven gave fans the first black, queer character in firefighter candidate Darren Ritter.
But although his love life has been touched upon in small scenes across the last three years, star Daniel Kyri and showrunner Derek Haas have now promised "we’ll be seeing more of Ritter’s off-shift story this season".
Ritter has been on-and off dating Eric Whaley, a travel agent with whom he quarantined before they split, and later rekindled after a blind date gone wrong.
Daniel shared that fans will get "a little bit more of a glimpse into his relationships" including "the good and the not-so-good, the things that every relationship tends to have to work through".
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WATCH: Chicago Fire: Mouch has a special moment with Ritter
"We get to see a little more of that this season and I am very excited," Daniel told HELLO! exclusively.
"For Ritter, personally, my stake is in getting to see more tender moments than we have seen in the past."
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Daniel continued: "I always hope that in the larger context of the show it can bring in real world elements, and they do a beautiful job of touching on that already, but would I love to see, particularly, issues pertaining to the LGBT community highlighted? Absolutely."
Ritter is the show's first black, queer character
He shared Ritter's coming out scene as one of his "favorites"; the young man simply told Lieutenant Christopher Herrmann that he had a boyfriend, not a girlfriend, and that was it.
"It was so simple and a non-event, yet so meaningful, so I am always down to work on moments like that," he added.
He was first introduced in season seven
Ritter's first appearance came early in season seven, when he was part of a different unit whom 51 met on a call.
A young candidate for the CFD, he panicked and was unable to take part in the rescue before meeting Randall 'Mouch' McHolland on the stairs and getting a pep talk.
Ritter then chose to leave the CFD but was taken under the wing of Mouch and Herrmann, who asked him to join 51.
One Chicago returns to screens on Wednesday 22 September at 8/7c on NBC
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