"Chicago Fire"is saying goodbye to beloved firefighter Joe Cruz (Joe Miñoso), who has been part of Firehouse 51 since the NBC drama premiered in 2012.
It's going to get emotional as Miñoso, 48, makes his final appearance as a series regular in the NBC mainstay's milestone 300th episode, airing Wednesday, Nov. 4 (9 p.m. ET/PT).
Starting as a recurring guest star, Miñoso was promoted to series regular in Season 2, spending 15 seasons as Cruz, the big-hearted everyman in the City of Big Shoulders – and the devoted best friend of Brian "Otis" Zvonecek (Yuriy Sardarov), who died from injuries sustained in a factory fire in the 2019 Season 8 premiere.
The heartbreak isn't just for viewers.
"It's 15 years of a life that I've lived inside of someone's skin,"
Miñoso tells USA TODAY. "There's no way that there isn't going to be some level of grief."
Yet it's a remarkable run for Miñoso in Dick Wolf's perilous "Chicago" TV universe, where the firefighting dangers can spell abrupt exits for actors.
"When I was a recurring guest star, I was just really happy they let me continue," Miñoso says. "They saw something in me they wanted to keep around. I'm honored."
Cruz also appeared in 10 episodes of "Chicago Med" and nine of "Chicago P.D.," letting Miñoso explore the whole One Chicago franchise.
"It was our universe, but it wasn't our ['Chicago Fire'] world," Miñoso says. "It was like going to your cousin's house, and they had different toys and they played in different ways, and their cereal tasted weird."
Cruz's last call started in 'Chicago Fire' Season 14
The end began with a devastating warehouse fire in the Season 14 finale that left Cruz with a spinal injury. Miñoso learned on his last day of filming that Season 15 would bring his character's exit. Sitting in a producer's office, he gazed at the cast photos on the wall.
"I just kept staring at my photo and going, like, wow, that won't be there much longer," Miñoso recalls.
Within an hour, however, Miñoso learned he'd return as a "Chicago Fire" director, an end goal the actor/creator has been seeking for years. He expects to direct his first episode later this season.
"It was a real whiplash moment," he says, calling the opportunity a "timely, appropriate evolution."
Onscreen, Cruz battled through rehabilitation, moving from a wheelchair to a cane and setting himself the goal of walking 300 steps. But in the episode titled "Three Hundred," Cruz struggles with the firefighting life and his growing family – pregnant wife Chloe (Kristen Gutoskie) and sons Otis and Javi.
Miñoso particularly cherishes watching Carlos Sanchez, who plays adopted son Javi, grow up on the show.
"You see him in this last episode, and he's as tall as I am," Miñoso says. "He was a tiny little 11-year-old when he landed in Cruz's arms from a burning building, and then I adopted him. To see that young man's growth is incredible."
The farewell includes an emotional one-on-one with his boss, Firehouse 51 chief Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney). It's the last scene Miñoso filmed as Cruz.
"Easily the single most memorable emotional scene that I've ever done with Taylor," Miñoso says. "So much of the dialogue felt like it could have been me and Taylor talking about our personal experience as actors on this show."
Because Kinney plays the captain, the longtime co-stars rarely shared intimate moments onscreen, making the farewell even more powerful.
"This is really the only time you've seen these two men at equal footing as men," Miñoso says. "I almost got lost in Taylor's eyes. You forget how blue they are."
A last goodbye to Otis on 'Chicago Fire'
Cruz also bids a spiritual farewell to Otis in a scene guaranteed to bring tears to "Chicago Fire" fans' eyes. Blame it on residual smoke. Miñoso remains close to Sardarov, who appears in "Long Lost," a short film Miñoso wrote and produced in Chicago about two estranged brothers.
Born in the Bronx, Miñoso has called Chicago home after earning a master's degree at Northern Illinois University and cutting his teeth in the city's theater scene.
The 2011 "Snowmageddon" blizzard briefly drove Miñoso to Los Angeles. Two months later, "Chicago Fire" brought him back. The Chicago Bears season-ticket holder isn't going anywhere now. He will stay on the city's North Side with his wife, makeup artist Caitlin Murphy Miñoso, whom he met working on "Chicago Fire" set.
"Chicago came calling back, and it's never let me go," he says. "Which is why I'm never gonna let it go."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Chicago Fire' bids farewell to Cruz after 15 seasons. Inside his emotional goodbye
