Chicago Fire's 'Dawsey' Relationship Wasn't Planned Until The Actors Made It Inevitable

The writers of "Chicago Fire" couldn't resist making "Dawsey" official once they saw actors Monica Raymund and Jesse Spencer interact on screen. Although original scripts didn't plan for Gabriela Dawson (Raymund) and Matthew Casey (Spencer) to fall in love, the groundwork for their romance began as early as the firefighter procedural's pilot episode.

Departing "Chicago Fire" co-creator Derek Haas and his team had to reckon with the on-and-off relationship between Casey and Hallie Thomas (Teri Reeves), but throwing Dawson into the mix made sense given Spencer and Raymund's chemistry. During a 2016 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Haas told the story of how "Dawsey" was born.

"Well the first episode, the very end of the first episode, Dawson has definitely expressed her feelings about Casey but that, well, it's never going to work because he's engaged to Hallie," Haas explained. 

Toward the end of the pilot episode, Dawson can be seen looking out of a window while Casey talks on the phone with Hallie. Haas said that when they were editing that episode, the writers knew "Dawsey" would "be an interesting triangle going forward."

Haas continued by describing how Raymund and Spencer evolved as a duo over the NBC show's first five seasons. "The more we got to know Monica and Jesse and watching them laugh together and interact together and do scenes together and just hang out together off-camera, we thought, wow this is really something worth exploring ... " Haas shared. "Really, we built that whole season and really the five seasons with their relationship kind of two ships crossing, getting together, crossing again and it's just provided a great emotional arc for their two characters."

Dawson and Casey married in "Chicago Fire" Season 5, but unfortunately for shippers, "Dawsey's" future was not meant to be. Tensions between the couple culminated in their divorce just two seasons later, and Casey later tied the knot with Sylvie Brett (Kara Killmer) in Season 12. 

Fans of "Dawsey" exist, yet "Chicago Fire" viewers are generally divided on whether the characters were actually compatible. In one Reddit thread, users describe their relationship as "toxic" and "a train wreck," with some preferring Casey's romance with Sylvie. Regardless of what one thinks about "Dawsey," the ship went down as one of the first important love stories on "Chicago Fire."