“Fire Country” and “Sheriff Country” Teams Tease Sinkholes, Secret Mothers, and Cross-Show Romance in Edgewater

Edgewater has never been short on disasters, but it took five seasons for the ground to literally give way. Tonight, CBS kicks off its Friday night block with the Season 2 premiere of Sheriff Country at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT, followed by the Season 5 premiere of Fire Country at 9:00 p.m., and the two shows arrive more intertwined than ever. During a combined virtual press conference for CBS’s 2026 press day, Fire Country co-creator, executive producer, and star Max Thieriot was joined by Sheriff Country star Morena Baccarin, Fire Country showrunner Eric Guggenheim, and Sheriff Country showrunner Matt Lopez to preview what’s ahead for the small town at the center of the growing franchise.

Fire Country Season 5 opens with “Founders’ Day,” in which a catastrophic sinkhole opens beneath Main Street during Edgewater’s annual festival, trapping residents underground and sending Station 42 into a high-stakes rescue. Thieriot joked that Guggenheim pitched the idea almost the moment he arrived, and credited the new showrunner with tying it back to the flood that hit Edgewater at the end of Season 4.

Guggenheim, who takes over as showrunner this season, confirmed that he pushed for the sinkhole from the start and noted the storyline was in the works before a real sinkhole made headlines in Los Angeles a few months ago. The production built a practical sinkhole on its stage, supplemented by visual effects that Guggenheim described as “mind-blowing.”

Guggenheim also came to the show as a viewer first, explaining that he and his wife watched the first season as it aired. He promised the opening run of episodes lives up to what fans expect, calling them “like getting shot out of a cannon.”

With Natalie Zea, star of the sinkhole drama La Brea, standing right there in the premiere, how did the writers resist a wink? Guggenheim admitted the idea came up in the writers’ room more than once, and that he thought about it on set too, but ultimately decided it “would have been a little too meta.” Zea appears in the first two episodes and will continue on while juggling her role on Memory of a Killer, with Guggenheim singling out her relationship with Kevin Alejandro’s Manny as a highlight.

The sinkhole also brings a newcomer to town. Olivia Thirlby joins the cast as CJ Ryan, a highly decorated urban firefighter from Philadelphia who happens to be in Edgewater at the wrong place and the right time. Guggenheim explained that what appeals to him most about the character is that, unlike so many Fire Country characters who were born or raised in Edgewater, CJ has no roots there. That makes her a fish out of water both professionally, since wildland firefighting is “a whole different animal,” and culturally. According to Guggenheim, CJ forms a platonic friendship with Bode that has been satisfying to develop, while she bumps heads with Manny early on.

When asked why Bode has never forgiven himself even after the town has, Thieriot said that burden is part of what defines the character, and he isn’t sure Bode is capable of fully letting it go. While Bode has made tremendous progress since Season 1, the losses he has suffered along the way have set him back. Thieriot teased that this season, including some time at Three Rock in the back half, is about Bode finally finding a purpose that feels fulfilling.

Thieriot also pointed to something he feels people often overlook. “When you spend that amount of time in prison, it changes you,” he said. “It’s hard to ever fully return to the person you were before.” Thieriot shared that the older brother of someone close to him has been in and out of prison for years, including stints at San Quentin and Pelican Bay, and served as much of the inspiration for Bode’s backstory, down to the character’s artwork and drawings.

Over on Sheriff Country, Season 2 picks up with Mickey reeling from the revelation that her mother is very much alive, and is DEA agent Eva Santos, played by Rachel Ticotin. Baccarin said she was the last to find out. On set last season, she remembered wondering aloud who would be cast as her mother, and separately who would get the great role of Santos, only for Thieriot’s knowing silence to tip her off.

Baccarin explained that the distance between the two actresses fueled the performance. Ticotin was new to the show, and the two were still figuring each other out. “I feel like I don’t know her. How am I going to play this?” Baccarin recalled thinking. “That’s exactly what I have to play: this person that I’m supposed to feel close to is a total stranger to me, and we really leaned into that.” Now that the two know each other better, Season 2 explores whether Mickey can let her mother back into her life.

Mickey’s season also includes a side of the sheriff viewers haven’t seen before: a full-on bender. Asked whether this was her first drunk scene, Baccarin deadpanned, “Weirdly, I’ve had a good amount of experience to draw from.” She explained that it was her first time playing someone who normally has it all together falling apart, and the challenge was finding the line where Mickey is far enough gone to show she’s truly broken without going too far.

The Sheriff Country premiere also features guest star Ben McKenzie as Sheriff Wade, a neighboring sheriff called in to assist Mickey, who has a few secrets of his own. McKenzie is also Baccarin’s husband, and when asked what it was like having him in the Sheriff Country universe, she answered with a one-word joke (“Terrible”) before admitting she was actually “giddy.”

The couple previously worked together on Gotham, and Baccarin noted one key improvement this time around: “Last time we worked together, he was the boss, and now I’m the boss, so it’s better.” She shared that she normally spends long days working in Toronto and comes home to an empty house, so getting to ride to set together and talk about the work over dinner left her feeling “very spoiled.” She also confirmed McKenzie will return, and teased that his role is “not what you would expect for the two of us.”

Lopez reflected on a strong first season for Sheriff Country, noting that the Season 1 finale was the show’s highest-rated episode. Asked how the series balances case-of-the-week storytelling with longer arcs, he explained that the writers’ room works in three units. Every episode has a self-contained story with some degree of closure. Above that are “chapters” spanning three or four episodes, like last season’s Blood Moon Festival serial killer story. Then there are season-long threads, with reveals in Episode 20 that call back to Episodes 2 and 3.

Lopez said the approach comes from the shows he has always loved, like The X-Files, that combine both styles. “They love being rewarded for sticking with you,” he said of audiences, “and realizing, oh my god, that’s the guy from Episode 4.”

The crossover between the two shows returns this season, and the panel made clear the mix of characters will be different. Baccarin said she got to pair up with Kevin Alejandro quite a bit, though she and Thieriot still couldn’t settle on a name for last year’s buddy-cop duo of Bode and Boone (their best attempt: “Boode”). Lopez added that characters who sat out last year’s crossover will be involved this time, including Jake from Fire Country.

Because Fire Country has 13 episodes this season and Sheriff Country has 20, the Sheriff Country run will continue after Fire Country wraps. Lopez said he’d “count my lucky stars if we could persuade one Max Thieriot to come visit us,” and that the goal across Fire Country, Sheriff Country, and the in-development medical spinoff they are calling Edge Med is a seamless universe where Eve, Manny, or Bode could walk into a scene at any time.

Thieriot agreed that the shared setting is the heart of the franchise. “That’s the unique thing about living in a small town,” he said, noting that the characters eat at the same restaurants and go to the same schools. Asked about watching his creation expand to a third series, Thieriot called the experience “very surreal” and “extremely humbling,” and deflected the credit to the people around him, including Lopez, who is leading Edge Med, and co-creators Tony Phelan and Joan Rater, whose Grey’s Anatomy experience informs the medical side. “I’m just a dumb country boy, right?” he joked. “I got a lot of really smart people around me.”

As for romance, Thieriot confirmed Chloe will be back and that her relationship with Bode remains complicated, while Baccarin said Mickey is “feeling a little burned” after her last boyfriend and is focused on getting her life back on track, with her complicated partnership with Boone front and center early on. Then Thieriot dropped one more tease. “There may be some cross-show love that takes place this season as well,” he said. “I’m not gonna say who those two people are, but there might be something there that everybody’s gonna get to see.”

In her closing remarks, Baccarin said that what excites her most is that even with such an expansive universe and so many stories to tell, both shows keep “the really intimate drama aspect of it front and center.” With a sinkhole, a long-lost mother, and at least one cross-show romance on the way, Edgewater is about to test that balance. Sheriff Country airs Fridays at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT, followed by Fire Country at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on CBS, with both series streaming on Paramount+.