Interview: Jeff Hephner Dishes On His Return To ‘Chicago Fire’

Jeff Hephner returns to NBC’s ‘Chicago Fire’ on Tuesday, but first he told Hidden Remote about his comeback and journey from ‘Fire’ over to ‘Chicago Med.’

Jeff Hephner is a favorite among fans of NBC‘s Chicago Fire, who kept campaigning for his return well after his character Jeff Clarke completed his recurring arc in Season 2. Hephner was so well liked that he did eventually come back – but on Fire‘s spin-off series Chicago Med, where Clarke is currently serving as a fourth-year medical student (as pictured above).

Yet audience members have wondered if Hephner would return to his original home on Fire and tomorrow, they’ll get their wish when he guest stars as part of the show’s 100th episode.

But first, Hidden Remote connected with him to talk about what it was like to revisit Chicago Fire, how it’s been making the transition from that to Chicago Med, and his thoughts on the future of Clarke’s romance with Dr. Natalie Manning.

Clarke’s shift from firefighting to medicine hasn’t been easy, and fans have seen him working hard to succeed in a different field. Has it also taken Jeff a second to adjust in bringing back his existing character into a new environment?

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“It really has,” he told us. “There’s some old Clarke that I keep wanting to throw in the new Clarke, and that makes it difficult because they’re living in two different worlds. Same person, two different universes and sometimes it’s hard.

“I was doing a procedure the other day – I was playing doctor but I was playing on Chicago Fire and it was weird because the guys were like, what are you doing? You sound like this ridiculous doctor that you’ve become!”

Clarke returns to Fire looking for Lt. Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney), as he’s come up with a proposition for his former colleague. While obviously we can’t tell you what that is, we can say that off-camera it wasn’t as simple as just walking over onto the other show.

Although Chicago Fire and Chicago Med are part of the same One Chicago universe, Hephner explained that returning to the Fire set was incredibly different from the vibe he’s currently experiencing as a recurring cast member on Med.

“It is absolute night and day. They’re nothing alike,” he explained. “It’s funny, I was just shooting some Fire crossovers – I’m in three of their upcoming episodes –  and I got right back into the rhythm. I feel like I never left that show. It’s a really fun place and Med is too, but my goodness, it could not be more different.”

Yet in a sense that’s life imitating art. Just like Jeff Clarke had to leave behind the rough and tumble world of firefighting to start over in the completely different arena of medicine, Jeff Hephner has brought his all cylinders firing energy over to Chicago Med and had to essentially merge what was known and loved about his character into a new world that has been demanding completely different things. It’s been fun as audience members to watch him figure out that puzzle and use it to show us new sides to Clarke that maybe Fire didn’t bring out before.

However, in the handful of Season 2 episodes he’s been in so far, Clarke has really been knocked down. Aside from one compliment from Dr. Connor Rhodes (Colin Donnell) at the end of “Extreme Measures” it seems like everyone’s always telling Clarke he’s doing something wrong. In that same episode he admitted to Natalie (Torrey DeVitto) that it’s getting to him. So what would it take for Clarke to feel like he belongs at Chicago Med?

“I think it’s a real hurdle,” Hephner told us, “because I don’t know personally. When you’re new into a universe it’s hard to find where you fit in, and I think the writers and the actors have to find out how that’s all going to meld together. But Clarke’s definitely having a hard time figuring where he fits in for sure. Who knows if he does?”

That uncertainty extends to his personal life. Clarke is dating Natalie, but Chicago Med has been dropping plenty of hints that Natalie may be thinking about Dr. Will Halstead (Nick Gehlfuss), who was crushing on her in Season 1. And Torrey DeVitto has admitted that she’s a Manstead fan. So how does Jeff feel about Clarke possibly getting his heart broken?

“Last year they spent a lot of time creating this dynamic between those two, it was really sweet and really lovely,” he said, “and then it just so happens I’m the one in there to force the question or force them to take a second look at who they are and where they were going together.

“As a fan of watching their first season, I thought they were really great together. I like Manstead so it’s conflicting to be the one who’s in between them,” he continued. “We know how this works on TV. Things are temporary. I think Clarke has a path with Natalie and I think they’ve explored some of that, if there was going to be a future.”

Regardless of if Clarke ends up keeping Natalie or not, or however much stuff they want to throw at him in the ED, or even if he winds up on a third show (he’s already pitched an excellent idea for how he could cross over to Chicago Justice), Jeff is thrilled to continue playing Clarke for as long as the One Chicago franchise will have him.

“I enjoy the chaos, to be honest,” he reflected. “I really like wandering into the unknown with this. I love the opportunity to get back and do the character again and be in the universe, but I’m very cool with the chaos.

“I really enjoy wandering through their universe and causing problems. Both times I’ve entered in their worlds I’ve gotten to stir things up and I’ve gotten to really be different and a little disruptive,” he added. “In terms of the relationship between Will and Natalie, there’s a disruption. In terms of dynamics of how they work in the ED, Clarke is a disruption because the character screws up, and because there’s some stuff in his guy code that doesn’t work necessarily in hospital code.”

But that troublemaking sense is why we love Jeff Clarke, and by extension why we love Jeff Hephner. Clarke has always been a character that pops, who isn’t just another firefighter or just another med student; you never quite know how to peg him, and that keeps things interesting every time he’s around.

By the same token, you’ll never be able to pin down just what Jeff Hephner is going to do with the character. He essentially had the entire playbook thrown out the window on him when he signed up for Chicago Med and it has been incredibly fun to watch him mix things up as he still keeps the character that fans missed so much, yet also grows him and tries new ideas, and then has to adapt to well, pretty much everything except the kitchen sink. It’s one heck of a balancing act and it’s fitting that just as he’s mastered it, he’s getting to go back to where it all began.

Let’s hope that Clarke sticks around for a good long while, if only to see what Hephner’s going to come up with next.

Next: Joe Chappelle Talks Directing 'Chicago Fire's' 100th Episode

Chicago Fire fans can catch Jeff Hephner reprising his role as Jeff Clarke in tomorrow’s 100th episode, which airs at 10/9c on NBC. You can also find him when Chicago Med returns for the rest of its second season starting Thursday, January 5 at 9/8c on NBC.

The 100th episode of Chicago Fire airs Tuesday at 10/9c on NBC.