Joe Minoso Talks ‘Chicago Fire’ Season 10, Lasting Effects of Trauma for Cruz, and the Can’t-Miss 200th Episode [Interview]

Please note this interview contains spoilers for Chicago Fire Season 10 Episode 1.

Following a major cliffhanger unlike any we’ve seen before, Chicago Fire Season 10 picked up right where the previous season left off.

All of Squad 3 is trapped underwater during a dive rescue, and over the course of several suspenseful minutes, it’s unclear if they’ll all make it out alive.

Thankfully, they do. But it’s Joe Cruz, played by Joe Minoso, who has the closest call.

I recently spoke with Minoso about filming those underwater scenes, the lasting effects that incident will have on his character, and the upcoming milestone 200th episode. (You can watch the full video of our interview below.) 

Minoso told me he was nervous when he first found out he’d be filming those underwater scenes.

“I have a large amount of respect for open waters. And I was like, oh this does not sound fun — at all,” he said. He worried he’d feel claustrophobic, but an intense amount of training helped. “We ended up doing a lot of training. We basically got scuba certified before we ever started working on the episode.”

“It ended up being one of the most amazing, fun experiences ever,” Minoso continued. “It was unbelievable. I mean, the production that we went through to film this thing. There was this huge tank. We had to film on like three different locations. We brought in one of the most renowned camera operators for underwater television — filming at all. He was phenomenal to work with.”

“There was a huge prosthetic of me that had to be made for certain things.” (Minoso shows a photo of this in the video.) “Having to be lifecast, that was a first,” he said.

He was also excited about what came from this experience for Cruz.

“What’s great about it is they found something more interesting than just kind of, well, thankfully, killing me off — to explore as a character and as an actor. And I think we’re going to end up seeing a lot of leftover trauma for Cruz throughout the course of the season.”

Watch the full interview with Joe Minoso:

Minoso also noted that the trauma will have an effect on his relationship with Chloe. “If you go back a couple of seasons, Cruz almost lost Chloe altogether because she didn’t know if she’d be able to deal with the idea of having to wait for a firefighter to come home from a shift.”

Of course, Cruz and Chloe are currently expecting a child, which is something else Minoso is looking forward to — including seeing all the ways Cruz might mess up. “Who knows, if the show goes on long enough, maybe my son ends up taking over for me on Squad,” he joked.

Though Minoso wasn’t able to say much about what’s coming up this season, he did insist that everyone be sure to watch the fifth episode of the season.

“It’s the 200th episode, and a lot of things are kind of tilting in that episode that are really going to change the shape of the show forever,” he said. “There’s going to be some things you’re going to love. There’s going to be some things you’re going to hate. There’s going to be a lot in the middle. Either way, it’s a can’t-miss episode.”

—

Chicago Fire airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on NBC.

 Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram!

Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!