Fire Country Spinoff Confirmed With *This* Character From the Original Series Moving Over
Put back on your fire gear because a Fire Country spinoff is on its way, and its coming sooner than you think.
Fire Country is CBS’ drama series centered Bode Donovan, a young convict with a troubled past, who volunteers for the California Conservation Camp Program, in which prisoners assist with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, also known as Cal Fire. Bode is assigned to his hometown in Northern California, where he must work alongside his former friends and other inmates as they fight wild fires that lague the region.
The series, which premiered in 2022, became one of primetime television’s most-watched shows of 2022 and 2023, with more than 10 million viewers watching Fire Country by the middle of its first season. With the success of the series, it’s no question why there are Fire Country spinoffs in the works. So what is Fire Country‘s spinoff about? Keep reading for what we know.
What is Fire Country‘s spinoff about?
What is Fire Country‘s spinoff about? The Hollywood Reporter confirmed in May 2024 that CBS greenlit a Fire Country spinoff titled Sheriff Country for the 2025 to 2026 season. The series will be led by Morena Baccarin, who made her debut as Sheriff’s Sergeant Mickey Fox — who’s also Bode’s mother Sharon Leone’s estranged stepsister — in Season 2, Episode 6, of the original Fire Country.
“We do long-term development at CBS now,” CBS Entertainment President Amy Reisenbach said in a statement at the time. “[The extra year] gives us plenty of time to cast it and figure out how we want to produce it. It’s a huge opportunity for us and speaks to the kind of development we want to be doing.”
CBS Studios will produce Sheriff Country, with Fire Country co-creators Tony Phelan and Joan Rater writing the first episode from a story by Phelan, Rater and co-creator and star Max Thieriot (who plays Bode). Phelan, Rater, and Jerry Bruckheimer and KristieAnne Reed.
CBS Chief Executive Officer George Cheeks previously teased that multiple Fire Country spinoffs were in the works in an interview with Deadline in November 2023. “We are focused on mass-appeal franchises,” Cheeks said. “We started with expanding universes, reimagining, but also creating new franchises. And again, this season’s number one show was Fire Country, which completely lends itself to building out a whole new universe. So it is really important for us to double down on a franchise focus.”
He continued, “It became very clear that not only was the show special, it really felt like this could be a great example of us building together a franchise from scratch. And so I’m like, ‘you guys, congratulations, you got your back nine. Now let’s start talking about ideas for new extensions.’ They’ve already come up with some great ones … We’re not necessarily looking at next year. We’re looking when they’re ready. That’s the beauty of the gestation process. We know that we’re doubling down on this one, so let’s get it right. And whether that that means three years down the road or whether that means a Paramount Plus original or a CBS original, we’ll see where it lands.”
TVLine confirmed that one of the spin-offs would be sheriff-centered in 2023. “We are hearing that one of the two spinoffs in the works at CBS will be sheriff-centered,” the site reported. Deadline also confirmed a sheriff-centered Fire Country spinoff was in the works in December 2023 and that the lead character of the series, a female sheriff, would be introduced as a guest star in Fire Country Season 2.
Who’s in the Fire Country spinoff cast?
News broke in January 2024 that Morena Baccarin was cast as a sheriff who will be the lead lead of the Fire Country spinoff. Baccarin’s character is Mickey Fox, a Sheriff’s Deputy for 15 years who knows every corner of Edgewater, Bode Donovan’s hometown in Northern California, and each of its inhabitants, including Bode.
Baccarin made first appearance in Fire Country Season 2. Deadline also reported that Baccarin was a top choice for the role from the start and negotiations fr her started before the holidays in 2023. Deadline also confirmed that Baccarin’s first episode in Fire Country will not be a backdoor pilot for her character’s spinoff but its reception will be key to if the spinoff moves forward.
Aside from Fire Country, Baccarin is also a primetime veteran, having starred in shows like Firefly, Homeland, and Gotham, as well as the Marvel movie franchise Deadpool. She also was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Homeland in 2013.
It’s unclear if any characters from Fire Country will be in the spinoffs, however, TV Line’s report confirmed that one of the spinoffs, led by Baccarin, could be more law enforcement-focused than firefighter-focused. This means that Fire Country could follow the same trajectory as NBC’s One Chicago franchise, which started with Chicago Fire in 2012 before expanding to Chicago P.D. in 2014 and Chicago Med in 2015.
Cheeks also explained in his interview with Deadline why CBS is releasing so many spinoffs and rebooting so many series. Among the series premiering in 2024 are The Good Wife spinoff, Elsbeth, and a reboot of Matlock starring Kathy Bates. “It actually makes it a lot harder because you can’t just, take a title and say, ‘hey, I’m gonna recast it and put ’em out there,’” Cheeks said, denying the claim that “dusting off old IP makes our jobs easier.” “Discerning fans of those … have a real clear sensibility of what they want those shows to be. So I think it’s actually more challenging to figure out how you reimagine for today. How do you make it exciting? What pieces of it do you leave in, what pieces of it do you let go? It’s a very tricky development process.”
When will Fire Country‘s spinoffs come out?
When will Fire Country‘s spinoffs come out? Sheriff’s Country will premiere in the 2025 to 2026 television season. The series, as well as Fire Country, were likely delayed, due to the recently ended Writer’s Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes, which halted productions for most scripted series. The writing team for Fire Country, which consists of 11 writers, returned to work for Season 2 in October 2023. “I think that we’re all a little bit like, can we still do this?” executive producer Joan Rater told Deadline at the time. “We’re all pretty rested. And we’ve all read books, had life experiences.”
Showrunner Tia Napolitano added at the time, “I feel energized, and honestly, Season 2 is not a continuation of Season 1. It’s the next chapter, and I think, having had a rest from Season 1, we feel like we’re ready to come back even stronger and shock everybody from the second the episodes start to air when we’re finally out there.”
