Max Thieriot, star, co-creator and executive producer of Fire Country and co-creator/executive producer of spinoff Sheriff Country, has signed a first-look deal with the studio behind the CBS series, CBS Studios.
Thieriot has been with CBS/CBS Studios since he was cast as the lead in the military drama SEAL Team in 2017, moving to Fire Country after the pilot was picked up as the series’ most-watched new series of the 2022-23 season.
“I’ve been with CBS and CBS Studios for almost 10 years and have loved everyone there,” Thieriot said. “They’re really like family now, and that’s one of the most important things about this business to me. They believed in me and supported me from the beginning, helping me find the best people to join.” That support included Thieriot branching out into directing SEAL Team and then writing and producing with Fire Country, inspired by his personal experiences growing up in Sonoma County, CA.
“I’ve always been a storyteller,” Thieriot says, recalling how he ran around the house as a kid taking videos of his friends on a bulky VHS tape recorder. His first TV appearance was Bates Motel, where he was a regular cast member, and his first directing gig, playing a supporting role in the short-lived series Texas Rising during its hiatus. He then moved directly to SEAL Team.
“Throughout my career, I’ve always wanted to learn, grow, and find ways to express that creativity,” Thieriot says. “Directing was a big job for me at first, after acting for a while, after reading so many scripts and seeing so many different worlds, I thought, why not try writing and see what I can do here.”
Thieriot co-created Fire Country with veteran showrunners Tony Phelan and Joan Rater (Grey’s Anatomy) through CBS Studios-based Jerry Bruckheimer Television, working closely with the company’s CEO KristieAnne Reed.
“Fire Country was a big turning point for me in terms of producing and writing,” Thieriot says, revealing her lofty ambitions from the start. “I feel like I’m one of those people who always flips the script a little bit. I think before the show aired, I tried to come up with four sub-ideas.” The horse has already caught up with the carriage — as Fire Country heads into its third season, it already has a spinoff series greenlit, Sheriff County, starring Morena Baccarin, for whom Thieriot directed Fire Country’s secret pilot from a script he co-wrote with Phelan and Rater. A potential second spinoff, starring Jared Padalecki, is being teased in a guest spot on Fire Country this season.
“We’re so excited about Sheriff Country, Morena is incredible,” Thieriot says of the series, which is set to debut in the 2025-26 season. “We’ve assembled a really incredible [writers] room, I was talking to Joan and Tony the other day, and they’re there working with [showrunner] Matt Lopez. I couldn’t be more excited that that show is coming.”
It’s not yet clear whether Thieriot will appear on Sheriff Country as Bode, but both shows take place in the same universe so a crossover is highly likely, the only hurdle being logistical since Fire Country is filmed in Vancouver and Sheriff Country in Toronto.
As for a potential Padalecki branch, “we’ll see where it goes, I think it’s too early to have any real updates on that front,” Thieriot said. “But I think we all feel like Fire Country is something that can be a franchise. And the most important people who believe in it are George [Cheeks] and Amy [Reisenbach] and David [Stapf] and everyone there.”
Season 2 of Fire Country ended on a cliffhanger as it cut to Bode’s ex-girlfriend Gabriela saying “I do” to someone else. Thieriot wouldn’t reveal whether Gabriela and Diego will get married, but did confirm that “there’s going to be a helicopter crash in the Season 3 premiere, which is going to cause a little bit of chaos in the community, the whole town. Everyone there is going to have to pitch in, roll up their sleeves and get dirty and bloody.”
He also teased the theme for the new season of the firefighter drama. “In Seasons 1 and 2, we really focused on Bode’s redemption and his healing process.
