Q&A: Hanako Greensmith on 'Chicago Fire' season finale, and what could be next for Violet

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It’s been an intense year for the members of Chicago’s Firehouse 51.

Sure, they risk their lives daily, traversing the city to fight fires and help those in urgent need of medical care – but it's their personal lives that have the “Chicago Fire” characters in a tizzy of late.

Chief Dom Pascal (Dermot Mulroney) came into the station heavy-handed, looking to solidify his place as Wallace Boden’s (Eamonn Walker) replacement – all the while aware Lt. Christopher Herrmann (David Eigenberg) is the heir-in-waiting. Making matters worse, Pascal lost his wife in a car accident and – though the case was cleared and the other driver found faultless – seemingly can’t let her go without some sort of justice.

Lt. Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) and Lt. Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) were approved to adopt a baby – and were at the hospital, awaiting transfer from a mother who said she wasn’t ready to raise a child. After seeing the newborn, however, the birth mother changed her mind, leaving Stellaride heartbroken.

Randy “Mouch” McHolland (Christian Stolte) has been preparing for his own possible promotion. His studies were interrupted when his wife, “Chicago P.D.” Sgt. Trudy Platt (Amy Morton), was shot and nearly killed in the line of duty.

And yet, in the midst of these storms, an anchor has arisen.

PIC Violet Mikami (Hanako Greensmith) is rock-solid in the field. (NBC photo by George Burns Jr.)

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Paramedic in Charge Violet Mikami (Hanako Greensmith) has been a beacon for her brethren, showing calm in the chaos, poise in the panic, and even as her romantic life has become rocky (Carver – no, Flynn – no, Carver), she has been a stable source of strength for her squad.

It’s a remarkable position for someone who, when first introduced to viewers, was deemed arrogant and abrasive. It’s also significant considering Violet is just two seasons removed from losing Evan (Jimmy Nicholas), the late paramedic field chief – and her former boyfriend – in a horrific accident she witnessed.

Violet has settled in nicely with her new and still adventurous second, paramedic Lizzy Novak (Jocelyn Hudon). She is much-less-settled when it comes to romance, still unsure what kind of relationship she wants with firefighter Sam Carver (Jake Lockett).

She (finally) dropped Flynn (Steven Straight), her dud of beau, upon his “suggestion” she apply for med school. Violet realizes she still cares for Carver – but it might be too late, as he is on his way out of the Windy City.

Will Violet overcome another love lost, or will she find the weight too much to carry?

Greensmith shared more in this edited Q&A.

BTS: Something has happened – at least for me, personally – in that I see Violet on screen, and she is a ray of light – which is a far cry from her early days. To be more accurate, she’s really become an anchor. In the midst of chaos, or bad behavior from other first-responders, when I see Violet, she’s professional; she’s great at her job – she’s just solid. Romantically, yeah, she’s had challenges; but all in all, she’s just solid.

How do you view Violet now, from where she’s been to where she’s at, what she’s overcome – and do you see her the same way I see her?

Hanako Greensmith: I definitely hadn't thought of it in that way where, yeah, she has become kind of like an anchor point in a tornado, as far as like all the inevitable crisis that Firehouse 51 goes through, and all the challenges that she herself is put through.

But when you say it, yeah, that makes so much sense. And I would say, yeah, I think one of the things that she might potentially struggle with is she wears her passion on her sleeve, let's say, and so she's quick to react; she's quick to defend; and that's one of her positive attributes. But I also think that's something that she actively has to fight against, as she steps into more leadership position – where she knows that being professional is really the way that she's going to get what she wants and what she needs to protect others that she cares about.

So, that's been kind of the internal battle that I have been playing with this season to make sure that we're seeing her grow into something that's bigger than she's been before. But it's also maintaining, I think, what makes her her, which is this passion, and this loyalty, and this deep care that, you know, sometimes when misdirected, can turn out aggressive, and sometimes when it's on the right path, can turn out into fabulous leadership.

What will become of Carver and Violet? Actors Jake Lockett and Hanako Greensmith are pictured. (NBC photo by Peter Gordon)

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BTS: You mentioned deep care, and certainly we know that Violet has deep care and affection for Carver. We know that Jake has publicly said goodbye; he's leaving the show. How do you think Carver's departure is going to affect Violet moving forward?

Hanako Greensmith: Oh, girl, I don't know! She has been through so many goodbyes, so many intense departures with characters that have been close to her. I think (losing) Carver – in whatever capacity that ends up becoming – I think will be another huge blow. And I think it's just going to be a test to see, like, is this a moment where she throws in the towel?

I’m not saying that she gives up on everything, but maybe now she's like, hopefully, not pursuing anything – which is something we've seen her do before. So, perhaps we’ll see that again. Perhaps we just see her take this in her stride and put even more passion into her work, to overcompensate for whatever grieving is going on behind the scenes; or maybe she just accepts it now that it's happened so many times; you know, this is just something that she's become accustomed to.

I really don't know. I mean, I think we all react differently to different challenges, especially in different times in our lives; and we've already been faced with one that's similar in the past. So, I think it'll just be up to the writers to see where they want to see her grow, or they want to see her change.

Hanako Greensmith as Violet Mikami and Jocelyn Hudon as Lizzy Novak on “Chicago Fire.” (NBC photo by Peter Gordon)

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BTS: In talking to you and your castmates over the years, I know you all have a lot of faith and trust in the creative team and the writers, and so they're ultimately going to determine where this goes next. But do you have a horse in this race? I'm wondering, do you have a preference, or an area where maybe you would like to see her romantic life – or perhaps lack thereof – go moving forward?

Hanako Greensmith: I try not to get too attached to any particular storyline, just because I know things can change; and, ultimately, whatever the writers want, I'm happy to do, essentially. But I, personally, I think it will be really exciting – I mean, we've seen Violet in so many stages of grief regarding romance.

Maybe that's it? Maybe I've just seen her in so many stages of romance and connection – and I don't think that has taken away from her professionalism or her talent behind the job – but I think if there was a way where she could feel like she could give back to a certain community in a way that felt very aligned with her morals and her values, that wasn't necessarily attached to romance, I think that kind of further develops her as a person. 

Maybe we get to know more about why she cares about certain things, so we get to see, like, what is her back story? Where does she come from? Why does she care about those things? Or even, like, is there a world in which she makes an incredible friend from a community she never thought to be close to?

It's just exposure, not just for her, but I think the audience to witness what relationships can look like that aren't necessarily inherently romantic.

BTS: That would be very cool. Just so long as it’s not med school, of course.

Hanako Greensmith: (Laughs) I won't lie, when I read that in the script, I was like, “Oh, this is a little nerve-wracking!”

Stellaride – Miranda Rae Mayo’s Stella Kidd and Taylor Kinney’s Kelly Severide – seek to adopt. (NBC photo by George Burns Jr.)

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BTS: What can you tease about the season finale?

Hanako Greensmith: I think we're going to watch, at least from Violet's perspective, we get to see her navigate next steps with Carver. She's now a free agent in the sense that she's finally come to terms with and been honest with Flynn, and broken ties there. And I think we just get to witness, like, what are her expectations? How does her community support her? Is Carver ready for this kind of conversation? Or is this just going to be one of those things? Or is it just one of those heartbreaking missed opportunities?

And, of course, without giving away other characters’ storylines, too, there's a lot of really juicy stuff coming up, just as far as action for a lot of our firefighters and for Pascal. And also, Kidd and Severide are going through their own incredible life changes, and navigating those together, and more intense conversations are to be seen.

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BTS: I find that the “Chicago” shows are impressively authentic, which makes me wonder how the math maths.

You’re an actor, and presumably your experiences are that of an actor. Firefighters and paramedics have their own experiences, certainly, and so they bring their own thoughts, fears and different emotions to each situation.

Not having their experiences, or their training, what is the challenge in finding their inner emotion or a motivation to make it look as authentic as it does each episode?

Hanako Greensmith: I appreciate you finding it authentic. Obviously, we all, as a production team, work so hard to make it visibly as authentic as possible.

I would say, for example, I did a ride along with an awesome paramedic in the city, Rosa, at I believe Firehouse 57. I think what actually helps is not necessarily seeking out the emotion that they're experiencing. I think it's seeking out what the day-to-day, what the intricacies of their routines look like. Because once you get to understand the structure and the expectations and the examples of what either stressful or non-stressful events they go through, it's easy to fill in the blanks of what emotion might be behind that.

Because, realistically, I can't copy a paramedic’s emotions, but I can copy their actions, and then I can fill in the blanks where I think emotions might fit. So, when it comes to understanding what it means to lose another member of the fire department – when I know what that structure looks like, how each firehouse gathers for that particular fallen firefighter; what the grieving process looks like, structurally, for everyone – I look at what that means for each individual person, more or less, like their closeness or distance from it.

I feel like, when it comes to my character, when I understand the black and white, I can fill in the gray.

BTS: People see this #OneChicago juggernaut. They see that these shows are happily renewed every year – even as a lot of other shows are not.

What is it like to be in this world? We only see it from a finished product standpoint. But to be in it, to be making it, what do you think would maybe surprise people about the #OneChicago world and how it's brought to audiences every week?

Hanako Greensmith: Since I graduated college, this has been my whole world. Like it was COVID, and then all of a sudden I was launched into a network show. And I never thought it would happen, or happen this quickly, at that, so I don't have a comp to compare it to.

I think the things that probably aren't surprising, but I think are maybe surprising, like, within the industry, to any of my friends who are actors that I don't actively work with at this time, it's always just how genuinely close we are as a cast. We are incredibly, incredibly loving of one another – like, we're traveling abroad at the end of the month together – a lot of the cast.

It's something that we take pride in, the fact that we've invested a lot of energy into really appreciating one another and cultivating friendships. And this is something that's, I think, really rare within the industry, and it's such a help, because when you're doing 22 episodes of a season and … the weather is absolute hell … it means everything to have people that you can laugh with, that you can lean on, that you can cry with.

I know that's not surprising, but that's probably the first thing that comes to mind.

“Chicago Fire” airs at 9 p.m. Wednesdays on NBC.