While Chicago Fire‘s Matthew Casey is living in Oregon caring for the Darden boys, Jesse Spencer, the actor who plays him has returned to his home country of Australia to star in a new upcoming Disney+ Australian series titled Last Days of the Space Age.
Principal photography on the Disney+ Australia original Last Days of the Space Age, from writer / creator David Chidlow, began in Australia in July.
Last Days of the Space Age is an eight-part dramedy series set in 1979 Western Australia, when Perth was at the center of the world’s headlines. A power strike threatens to plunge the region into darkness, while the city hosts the iconic Miss Universe pageant and the US space station, Skylab, crashes just beyond the city’s suburbs. Against this backdrop of international cultural and political shifts, three families in a tight-knit coastal community find their marriages, friendships and futures put to the test.
In addition to Chicago Fire’s Jesse Spencer, the incredible cast includes Radha Mitchell who plays Spencer’s character’s wife as well as Deborah Mailman, Linh-Dan Pham, Mackenzie Mazur, Emily Grant, Vico Thai, and Aidan Du Chiem.
The series is produced by Princess Pictures and directed by Bharat Nalluri (The 100). In addition to Chidlow, writers Alice Addison (The Hunter), Dot West (The Heights), and Jeremy Nguyen & Alan Nguyen (Hungry Ghosts) are also credited as writers of the series. Laura Waters (My Year 12 Life), Emma Fitzsimons (Koala Man), Chris Loveall (Please Like Me), Stephanie Swedlove (Everything’s Gonna Be Okay) and Anna Dokoza (Kevin Can F**k Himself) serve as Executive Producers and Christine Pham (Please Like Me) is producing the series.
Last Days of the Space Age is one of several Australian originals which were announced back in May and are expected to hit Disney+ Australian in late 2022 into 2023. There is definitely a difference between available content in the U.S. versus the Australian Disney+ counterpart, however there is plenty of overlap and if the series does well in Australia, Disney+ might stream the series in America as well.
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Just about a year ago, Matthew Casey (Spencer) let his fellow heroes know that he would be leaving 51 to help care for the children of Andy Darden (Corey Sorenson), who was killed in the series premiere of Chicago Fire back in 2012.
During the episode Two Hundred, Casey told Brett (Kara Killmer) that he had to move to Oregon, and asked that she come with him. She was taken aback by the news, and mentioned the possibility of them splitting up, but the couple ultimately agreed to stay together to attempt a long-distance relationship.
Spencer told People during a Zoom press conference why he made the tough decision to leave the show.
“This was a difficult decision because I have loved the show from the start but there are other things that I would like to do in the future, and there’s some family that I need to take care of.”
Showrunner Derek Haas hasn’t given up hope that Casey will return and stated during the same press conference, “We’re going to keep it alive.… This is a three-year commitment that Casey’s making but hopefully we’ll see him before those three years are done.”
Chicago Fire fans wish Spencer nothing but success and happiness, but also hope he will bring Casey back to Station 51 in the near future.
Chicago Fire executive producers include Dick Wolf, Derek Haas, Todd Arnow, Andrea Newman, Michael Gilvary, Michael Brandt, Reza Tabrizi, Arthur W. Forney, Peter Jankowski.
Chicago Fire is produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, in association with Wolf Entertainment. Filmed at Cinespace Chicago Film Studio.
Chicago Fire airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.
