The hit series Fire Country takes place in Northern California and is centered around a prison release firefighting program teamed up with full-time first responders. The show has been a huge hit with fans and even featured a guest appearance from Supernatural star, Jared Padalecki. Max Thieriot is not only the show’s star, but also the co-creator and executive producer. He previously starred in the series SEAL Team.
While the show has been successful, the universe created by Max has now been expanded. The new spin-off, Sheriff Country, will premiere later this year. It will center around the life of Sheriff Mickey, who was introduced in Season 2 of Fire Country. Since the series takes place in a small town, fans are already wondering how often characters from one show will show up in the other.
Fans Are Speculating There Will Be Several Crossover Episodes Due To The Town’s Size
CBS was eager to make Fire Country into a franchise following the show’s huge success. Sheriff Country is the new spin-off which will premiere during the 2025-2026 season. Sheriff Mickey will lead this new series and Fire Country is setting up the show in its third season. Tia Napolitano, the showrunner, spoke to Cinemablend last year about the Season 2 finale, the upcoming spin-off, and how it would be set up this season. Tia assured fans that they would see plenty of Sheriff Mickey before the premiere of Sheriff Country.
“Yeah, we want to expand Edgewater, and Mickey is part of Edgewater,” she said. “So we definitely want to have her come play on Fire Country, and get to know her more and get to know who she is to all of our people to build that world so that Sheriff Country feels like a natural expansion of the universe and it’s just more Edgewater for our viewers.”
Morena Baccarin plays Sheriff Mickey and her character plays a major role in the sixth episode of Season 2. Based on this fact, fans of Fire Country weren’t surprised when it was revealed she would be returning the following season. Fans actually assumed it would be happening since they would be premiering a spin-off centered around the character.
Another key fact is that Mickey was introduced as being connected to the core characters of the show. Mickey is not only Sharon’s sister, but also Bode’s aunt. She’s also an important part of the Sheriff’s department. Fans learned about her relationships with Sharon, Vince and Bode during her episode. There were also other key details about her involvement with the department which viewers learned about as well. All of this set up the spin-off series perfectly already.
Mickey’s daughter is in rehab, and she has a complicated history with her father. In the episode, her boss was killed and there was a dirty cop working within the department. This no doubt set up a pretty dramatic starting point for Mickey in the spin-off. For those who were hoping to learn more about Edgewater’s sheriff’s department in Season 3 of Fire Country, Tia promised them that would definitely happen.
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Fans also believe Sheriff Country will inevitably feature a ton of crossover episodes due to the fact that it takes place in a small town. Since there are only so few people within its population, viewers are convinced they will see plenty of Fire Country characters throughout the new series.
There Were Already Crossovers In Fire Country Before The Premiere Of Its Spin-Off
When speaking to TV Insider, Tia similarly told them how viewers will head into Sheriff Country after watching Season 3 of Fire Country. “She’s part of Edgewater, and we’re just expanding the Edgewater universe,” she said. “So I think it’ll feel like coming home when you finally are able to tune into Sheriff Country, even though it’s in 2025.”
Max Thieriot, the star, co-creator, executive producer, and director of Fire Country, also spoke to TV Insider. “Before we get to launch Sheriff Country, I think there’s also a lot more to unpack with Mickey,” he said. “Obviously we tried to really get out as much backstory as we possibly could in that episode, but I think it’ll be fun to sort of drop in different figures in her life in this show to just sort of build that rapport with the audience and get to see Mickey and Bode interact together outside [what we saw]. Mickey’s daughter, I think there’s a lot of fun stuff that we can play with leading up to that.”
When asked how much of Mickey audiences would see in Season 3, Max said, “Obviously, we won’t have her full-time, but I’m looking forward to hopefully at least getting her a couple of times and incorporating her into what’s going on in the town, but also just more of the personal lives and the relationships with these other characters that we’ve seen her interact with.”
When Mickey appeared in Season 2, viewers learned that Mickey had once arrested Bode, but there was enough trust for her to send him after an escaped inmate who ran into the woods. Many are wondering what will happen between them now that Bode is a free man. “There’s a lot of fun stuff to play with the new Bode and Mickey’s daughter potentially who’s kind of going through a lot of things that he’s already been through,” Max told the outlet.
Audiences also learned that Mickey and Sharon, played by Diane Farr, are stepsisters who are reconnecting after being estranged for a long time. “I was so excited to get that script,” Diane told TV Insider. “They’ve been developing it for a long time, and when they told me she was going to be my sister, it was so exciting because every layer of family for a character just allows you to see a different side of them.”
“[I thought] Morena is like a gift and would be so thrilling,” she continued. “And because she was going to be yet another really strong female, another strong alpha female, I thought it would be really fun if we could get to see Sharon be kind of petulant and whiny and holding a grudge. Where does she get to be the foot stomping five-year-old? So she’s a wonderful scene partner. We have the exact same way of working. We were both really excited to be there. We had hours and hours and hours just figuring it out.”
Diane even said this series helped her do something she’s never done before. “It’s the only time in my TV career—we had shot one side of a scene shooting one of us where the other one’s a little bit in the background and then we turned around and shot the other one, and it grew so much just from what we could give to each other that they went back and re-shot the first side because we could really feed off of each other in the way sisters would,” she said when discussing the scene with both sisters in the car. “I don’t watch my own work, so I’ve never seen what aired, but I think there were versions of me where I am weeping and crying and I’m sad because she does judge, but it’s the two of us in the car.”
Diane said that based on her experience so far, she’s very excited about the spin-off and where these characters will go in the future. “She’s going to be a great lead of a series, and I’m really glad I got to be in there and play with her,” she said.
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When asked about exploring the sisters’ relationship in the future, Diane said she wants “anything where they’re silly, right? If you take two strong alpha females with really big jobs and children that they’re responsible for and families that weren’t exactly above board and now they’ve grown up and they’ve really become functioning members of society, I’d love to get them to be silly, irrational, and make crappy choices together.”
Max Thieriot Revealed He Has “Four Different” Spin-Off Series “Ready To Go”
Max also spoke with USA Today and revealed how Season 3 of Fire Country explores new territory. He continued to tease Sheriff Mickey to excited fans, “Now we get to really dive deeper into her story. Even though it’s a Fire Country episode, there’s a lot of new texture to it.”
“We quickly realized how fans responded to this sense of community and the sense of family and some of the fabric that is “Fire Country,” he continued. After it was clear the fans were excited by the verious episodes in 2022, “I was like, ‘I got four different spinoffs.’ I was ready to go.”
Max said his agent advised him to “settle down and take a breath,” and he obliged, but said he is “always thinking ahead.”
Many have been drawing comparisons between the Los Angeles wildfires and the content of Fire Country. A viral video captured skycam footage from Fox’s Los Angeles station which showed a water drop executed by first responders over a fire in the Hollywood Hills. Thankfully, the flames were put out thanks to the drop.
A similar water drop was seen in an episode of Fire Country this season, but the episode was filmed before the horrific wildfires in January. “Clearly, with the Los Angeles wildfires, so much attention was brought to the inmate firefighter program,” Max said. “As devastating and tragic and unfathomable as the (wildfires) were, the takeaway I think that we get from that stuff is learning how to be more proactive next time, learning and understanding what these firefighters do and what they sacrifice.”
He continued, “I guess that’s also how I feel you have to reflect on any difficult situation, right? ‘OK, how do we come out of this stronger?’ To see Los Angeles (receive) the outpouring and outreach of support from other states and agencies and firefighting resources … it’s nice to see in times like this.”
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Thankfully, the tragic events didn’t affect the production of Fire Country, which completed filming in February. Max said he is already thinking ahead and throwing ideas around for Season 4. “Our goal is to tell authentic stories and personal stories, stuff that’s relatable and human,” he said. “We don’t change stuff to make it seem less realistic.”