Few characters have shaken up Firehouse 51 quite like Battalion Chief Hopkins. Since his arrival on Chicago Fire in the wake of Chief Pascal’s firing, Hopkins has quickly established himself as a by-the-book leader unafraid to challenge the status quo… which has put him on a direct collision course with Kelly Severide and turned Hopkins into one of the show’s most polarizing characters ever.

At the root of Hopkins’ issue with Severide is a decades’ old grudge he’s been holding over actions Severide’s father, Benny, took years ago. The events of the past are still unclear, but it’s clear that Hopkins’ issue with Severide is strongly rooted in the issues he has with Benny. Hopkins has been set on seeking retribution against Severide, who he sees as an ongoing example of what’s wrong with the CFD: nepotism, greased palms, and playing favorites.

Hopkins has kept good on his promise to hold Severide accountable for coloring outside the lines and taking his status as a legacy firefighter for granted. Now that an Internal Affairs investigation has been launched, it’s clear that we’re racing towards a major climax to the Hopkins and Severide storyline, but the end result might bring about some unexpected surprises!

In our exclusive interview, Rob Morgan opens up about embracing the role of the outsider, unpacking Hopkins’ complicated motivations, and teasing what’s still to come as the season heads toward its final episodes.

Playing an antagonist on a long-running show can be tricky and Hopkins hasn’t exactly made the best first impression with fans. What has it been like coming into a beloved show like Chicago Fire knowing your character is going to shake things up—and maybe ruffle a few feathers?

It’s been great; it’s been a fun experience. The NBC family, the Chicago Fire family has been great to work with.

I’m super excited that we are getting the reaction that we are from the character cause that means I’m doing my job. When I first read the material, I read it as, you know, Battalion Chief Hopkins coming to bring fire to the firehouse, and I believe that’s exactly what we’ve been achieving.

The reveal that Hopkins holds a long-standing grudge tied to Benny Severide adds a personal dimension. How much of that backstory did you know coming into the role and how did you build out it out for yourself beyond what’s on the page?

I believe they kind of manufactured that as we were doing it. Hats off to the writers, coming up with this stuff, being creative and things of that nature because it wasn’t really flushed out like that when I read the first episode.

I just knew it was gonna be a character that was coming into a very firm established family with ideas that could go against what was already established simply by going by the book. And that’s basically what I came in understanding.

Look whatever they write for next week, as long as this week I go by the book and understand this isn’t about a personal vendetta, but more about let’s get rid of the nepotism, the greased palms, the playing favorites, and let’s just go by the book of what it is to make sure the city of Chicago is safe and to make sure my firehouse and my squad makes it home safely.

So I was just as surprised as you when I found out what was happening with my character as it was happening.

Oh man, Taylor [Kinney] is amazing, he’s a great scene partner. He has this great technique of working them blue eyes for the camera. I even told him, I said, “Man, you gotta send me to the Taylor-Kinney, School of Eye acting. I need to pick up on some of that.”

But yeah, he’s phenomenal. It was great to work with him. He’s very dialed into his character, which was fun. And then also, even when you’re not working when it’s not action and cut, he’s just a cool regular cat. That made it fun to come in and play with somebody like that because being one on the call sheet, sometimes that brings a totally different vibe and energy, but man, he was so like down to earth and so present and so ready to play that. It was, it was just a great experience working with.