November 4, 2026Updated November 5, 2026, 1:04 a.m. ET
“Chicago Fire” says goodbye to beloved firefighter Joe Cruz (Joe Miñoso), who has been a part of Firehouse 51 since the NBC drama premiered in 2012.
It’s about to get emotional as Miñoso, 48, makes his final appearance as a series regular in NBC’s 300th episode, airing Wednesday, Nov. 4 (9 p.m. ET/PT).
Debuting as a recurring guest star, Miñoso was promoted to series regular in Season 2, spending 15 seasons as Cruz, the town’s big-shouldered big-hearted man – and devoted best friend to Brian “Otis” Zvonecek (Yuriy Sardarov), who died from injuries sustained in a factory fire in the 2019 Season 8 premiere.
The heartbreak doesn’t just concern viewers.
“That’s 15 years of a life that I lived in someone’s shoes,” Miñoso told USA TODAY. “There’s no way there’s not some level of grief.”
Still, it’s a remarkable journey for Miñoso in the perilous TV world of Dick Wolf’s “Chicago,” where the dangers of fighting fires can lead to abrupt exits for actors.
“When I was a recurring guest star, I was really happy that they let me continue,” Miñoso said. “They saw something in me that they wanted to keep. I’m honored.”
Cruz also appeared in 10 episodes of “Chicago Med” and nine of “Chicago PD,” allowing Miñoso to explore the entire One Chicago franchise.
“It was our world, 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 Began in ‘Chicago Fire’ Season 14
The ending began with a devastating warehouse fire in the season 14 finale, which left Cruz with a spinal injury. Miñoso learned on her last day of filming that season 15 would result in her character’s exit. Sitting in a producer’s office, he looked at the photos of the actors hanging on the wall.
“I kept looking at my picture and thinking, wow, she’s not going to be here much longer,” Miñoso recalls.
Within an hour, however, Miñoso learned that he would return as director of “Chicago Fire,” an end goal the actor/creator has sought for years. He hopes to direct his first episode later this season.
“It was a real boost,” he says, calling the opportunity a “timely and appropriate development.”
On screen, Cruz struggled with rehabilitation, going from a wheelchair to a cane and setting a goal of walking 300 steps. But in the episode titled “Three Hundred,” Cruz struggles with his life as a firefighter and his growing family – his pregnant wife Chloe (Kristen Gutoskie) and sons Otis and Javi.
Miñoso especially enjoys 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 me,” Miñoso says. “He was 11 when he landed in Cruz’s arms after leaving a burning building, and then I adopted him. Watching the growth of this young man is incredible.”
The farewell includes an emotional heart-to-heart with his boss, Firehouse 51 Chief Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney). This is the last scene filmed by Miñoso as Cruz.
“It’s probably the most memorable emotional scene I’ve ever done with Taylor,” Miñoso says. “A lot of the dialogue felt like Taylor and I could have been talking about our personal experiences as actors on this show.”
Because Kinney plays the captain, the longtime co-stars rarely shared intimate moments on screen, which makes the goodbyes even more powerful.
“It’s really the only time you see these two men on an equal footing as men,” Miñoso says. “I almost got lost in Taylor’s eyes. You forget how blue they are.”
A final goodbye to Otis on “Chicago Fire”
Cruz also bids a spiritual farewell to Otis in a scene that’s sure to bring “Chicago Fire” fans to tears. Residual smoke is to blame. 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 made Chicago his home after earning a master’s degree at Northern Illinois University and cutting his teeth on the city’s theater scene.
The “Snowmageddon” blizzard of 2011 briefly brought 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 while working on the set of “Chicago Fire.”
“Chicago came calling me back and never let me go,” he says. “That’s why I’ll never let this go.”
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