When “Fire Country” returns for Season 4 on Friday, it will be accompanied by a spinoff in the form of “Sheriff Country” — also set in Edgewater. For original series co-creators Joan Rater, Tony Phelan and Max Thieriot, it just made sense to keep things in the family.
“We understood how much the audience was responding to this small town and this community and this sense of family, really the themes of what ‘Fire Country’ is at its core. A big thing was trying to figure out a way to to do something new and different in that same world,” Thieriot told TheWrap ahead of premiere night. “In the same way that Cal Fire and the inmate firefighting program were things that I grew up around and always felt different from other shows that I’d seen on television, the Sheriff’s office is that to law enforcement.”
“We spend so much time outdoors in the woods during ‘Fire,’ so we’d love to explore a different side of Edgewater and get into town,” Rater explained. “From there, we thought the Sheriff’s department was a great opportunity.”
Not only is Thieriot an EP on both shows, he’s also the star of “Fire Country” as Bode Donovan/Leone, nephew to Morena Baccarin’s Sheriff’s Deputy Mickey Fox. Plus, it’s the actor’s real-life upbringing that most informs the franchise.
“Max is kind of our guide to Northwest California, so we went up there to do some research and actually talked to the Sheriff’s department in Humboldt County,” Phelan said. “That led to this idea that Mickey’s dad should be a weed grower, because that is obviously a big industry up there — and an industry that’s undergoing a lot of change with legalization, so that felt like an interesting world that we haven’t necessarily seen on a network show before.”
“Max knows everything and knows everyone, he is invaluable and amazing in helping create worlds,” Rater echoed, while Phelan added, “He makes everything feel authentic. He’s a resource for making connections with the people who actually have these jobs, and he keeps us honest in making sure that we’re telling the stories in a way that really honors these first responders, because that’s important to us as well.”
For his part, Thieriot shared an anecdote that perfectly paints the picture: “Growing up, the Sheriff Sergeant in my town was my youth soccer coach. He had four boys and I played soccer with two of them, and he’d be out there every weekend coaching our youth soccer team; his big old mustache. You’d see him in town, sometimes he drove to practice in his squad car. It’s just that small town stuff you don’t see if you go to a big city. I have a bunch of buddies who work for the Sheriff’s office — if you get a call, there’s a good chance that you know someone involved. It becomes much more personal, just like the firefighting element in ‘Fire Country.’ “
In “Sheriff Country,” Baccarin stars opposite Christopher Gorham, Michele Weaver, Matt Lauria, W. Earl Brown, Amanda Arcuri, Caroline Rhea, Tony White and special guest Diane Farr. And while there are familiar faces, this isn’t your typical procedural.
“By its nature, the incidents are different and the character drama is just different,” Thieriot concluded. “We’re lucky to have great people who are really invested in telling these stories and staying true to the region, staying true to the people who are from this area. So, we do a lot of our own research and we send people up there to meet with locals and meet with Sheriffs of places like this. So you can just capture that essence and that magic of what is unique and what is specific.”
“Fire Country” and “Sheriff Country” premiere Friday night on CBS, before streaming on Paramount+.
