‘Fire Country’ Star Max Thieriot Officially Confirms a Major Season 5 Shake Up for Station 42

Published Sep 17, 2026, 7:00 AM EDT

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Editor's note: The following contains some spoilers for Fire Country Season 5.

Summary

• Season 5 of 'Fire Country' has a new showrunner in Eric Guggenheim, 13 tighter episodes, and refocused small-town drama.
• Olivia Thirlby joins as a skilled outsider firefighter, shaking up Station 42 and Edgewater.
• A catastrophic sinkhole on Main Street fuels big incidents, and character arcs will deepen as Three Rock plays a large role.

The CBS series Fire Country is returning for Season 5, with a new showrunner (Eric Guggenheim, who was previously the showrunner for Magnum P.I.), new characters, and a catastrophic sinkhole right in the middle of Main Street. CJ Ryan (Olivia Thirlby), a former firefighter with a mysterious background, arrives in Edgewater right when they need help with residents that get trapped underground during the annual Founders’ Day festival. Bode (Max Thieriot) immediately recognizes what an asset CJ could be for Station 42, and while there are sure to be some growing pains as she navigates the challenges of Edgewater, it will be fun to see how she fits in and what new conflicts arise in the upcoming season.

Collider recently got the opportunity to chat with co-creator/executive producer/director Thieriot about the changes for Season 5. During the interview, he discussed Bode’s journey up to this point, what Guggenheim is bringing to this season, what Thirlby is adding to the ensemble, how the shorter episode count (there will be 13 episodes this season instead of 20) will be even more impactful, what will be going on in Three Rock, and where things are at for Bode and Chloe (Alona Tal). He also teased the upcoming medical spin-off, currently being referred to as Edge Med, and revealed which of his former co-stars he’s still looking to work into the Fire Country world.

Max Thieriot Is Humbled by the Success of ‘Fire Country’

"I’m happy to still be going and am trying to make the best show we possibly can."

COLLIDER: First of all, congrats on making it to Season 5 because that’s a huge accomplishment nowadays.

MAX THIERIOT: Honestly, it really is. It’s a testament to everybody, honestly – to everyone at CBS to all the actors in the show and to the crew that works their butt off every week. Our hearts are in this thing. I always tell people that it takes a village, and it does. We’ve got a big village, and it’s a good one. That’s what it takes. I’m honestly just humbled by the entire experience. I’m happy to still be going and am trying to make the best show we possibly can, and figure out ways to not just do that but make it better every year. This year, we’ve got a lot of changes and different stuff going on, and that’s frankly what you need sometimes. It’s a moment for us to be able to refocus and find those things that make Fire Country unique and special, and hone in on them and bring that back to the audience.

When you think about where Bode is in Season 5 compared to where he was when you started the show, what are you most surprised by? What stands out most about his journey that you couldn’t have foreseen five seasons ago?

THIERIOT: Honestly, so much of it. I had ideas in my head for what his character journey was going to be in the beginning, and then you get a group of people together and have a lot of minds and people coming up with stuff, and I tried to do my best not to put my hand up, but make it an environment that everybody has their voice heard and the best idea wins. I’m along for the journey. I didn’t really have certain expectations. Once I went, “Let’s see what we can do here and let’s go,” I was along for the ride. Honestly, in my head, I always thought that he would be at Three Rock longer.

That was the big thing. I always knew that once he got out of Three Rock and once he parolled, the challenge would be keeping focus on Three Rock and having it be such an integral part of the story when he was no longer there. That doesn’t mean I think we did it the wrong way. In my head, I just thought it would be three seasons at Three Rock, but there’s never any clear-cut way of doing it. This season, I’m just really focused, and the team is really focused, on finding that authenticity, finding those grounded moments, and finding more stuff that feels authentic to the DNA of the show and the fabric of the town of Edgewater. I think a lot of that small town, intertwined, personal, Friday Night Lights vibe stuff is the stuff that people gravitated towards in the beginning.

Coming up with some of these storylines, we know our viewers love the romance and are invested in these relationships, but also the other storylines for these characters are equally as important. I’m focused on bringing back some of those outside the relationship world storylines and some of the suspense and real raw, grounded character drama, which I think we’re doing really well. We have some new characters coming in that allow us to highlight some of those stories for their characters, but also just for our existing characters and how they impact their lives and their stories this season. We have a couple characters coming in right off the bat that are really going to launch this season and some great stories.

Olivia Thirlby Is Shaking Things Up in Season 5 of ‘Fire Country’

"She allows us to explore a lot of new stuff, which is exciting."

Image via Marvel Television

You’ve added Olivia Thirlby this season as a new firefighter. What is she bringing to the show? What does Bode see in her that makes him believe she has something to offer Station 42?

THIERIOT: Olivia is super talented. I’m not telling anybody something they don’t already know. She’s honestly just the kind of person that we look for, as far as the people that I look to work with. She’s a pro. She knows her stuff. She comes in super hungry and motivated and excited to work and to act and to be in scenes and find the moments to really make something out of every scene. I think that is really inspiring and really fun. When you do a show for five years, you’ve got to stay focused on bringing it every day, and that can be hard to do. Showing up for work every day, it’s hard for anybody to find that inspiration, and bringing in new people reinvigorates that and is always really exciting. It’s even more exciting when you have people who come in and they’re so talented like that, everybody goes, “Yeah, all right, we’re doing that thing again. Let’s go!” You get to see that instantly.

As a firefighter, she’s a little bit of a fish out of water, which I think is fun. From the outside looking in, everybody seems to be related in this town. And so, having somebody come in with a totally different perspective is really fun because they can point out things where you can go, “Oh, yeah, I guess that is kind of weird,” or “Oh, you’re calling me on my crap and maybe I needed this.” At the same time, she’s a character who has a ton of firefighting experience, but a different kind of experience. She’s super capable but has some things to learn as far as how we do wildland stuff. She just brings a different perspective to how we handle incidents, and how things are sometimes personal and you need to separate that from the work.

If you watch Sheriff Country, Boone is from Oakland and he’s a little bit of an outsider and sometimes it’s harder for him to get stuff done because of that and because he doesn’t have that rapport with the community. But then, other times, people are too close to something and they’re not able to see it because it’s too personal. She allows for that on Fire Country, as well. She’s just a really fun character and has a different outlook, different opinions, and a different perspective. She allows us to explore a lot of new stuff, which is exciting. She comes with her own baggage, which is also exciting. She’s her own character and she’s got her own stuff to work through. Much like Edgewater has been a place that Bode has been able to heal, it’s a place that she can do the same for things that she’s left behind.

Your new showrunner, Eric Guggenheim, has done Hawaii Five-O and Magnum, P.I., which are both known for having quite a bit of action. What are you most excited about with what he’s bringing to the season? How is he changing things up a bit or putting his own stamp on the show?

THIERIOT: Eric has such a great relationship with CBS and has worked with and for them for so long that he has insight into some of the stuff that works and doesn’t work, and he’s been through a lot of it. At the same time, he’s not coming in and being like, “Hey, I’m going to make this show Magnum.” It’s Fire Country, so it’s about what we need to do that. Eric is a great listener, and I think he’s doing a tremendous job at honing in on what the things are that really work with the show and will make it dynamic and special and unique. Sometimes just having new voices and new opinions and new thoughts and just a new way of looking at things can be great. Just mixing stuff up sometimes is important if you want to try new things. It’s hard to try new things when you’re used to doing things in a certain way, and he just offers a new perspective. At the same time, he’s very collaborative. I think it’s a great combination of things that make him a great showrunner and a great fit for the show.

Because you’re going from 20 episodes back down to 13, do you have to be very careful about how much story you can cram into one season? What does the pacing feel like this season?

THIERIOT: I’m a story crammer when it comes to doing 13 instead of 20. I'm like, “This just means we get to have 13 kick-ass episodes with super impactful moments and character moments in each episode.”The incidents are always fun, and we never have a shortage of incident ideas. For me, it’s not about that. It’s about figuring out how to arc these character stories in less time so that it doesn’t feel like you’re burning through them. It’s challenging, but at the same time, it’s easier to have a clear vision from start to finish when you don’t have to pave such a long road to get there. So, it’s about highlighting the moments in episodes where you feel like each one goes. It’s like a big puzzle, especially if those storylines are affecting each other.

‘Fire Country’ Season 5 Will Be Weaving Some of the Incidents Directly Into the Character Arcs

"There will be moments where incidents are incidents, but we also get to realize that some of these incidents are part of something bigger."

Image via CBS

The fires have gotten bigger, you’ve had a massive flood, and now you’re going to have a sinkhole. Can’t Edgewater ever catch a break?

THIERIOT: If you’re looking for excitement in your life, Edgewater is the place to go. This year, some of our incidents are driven around character versus character fitting into the incidents. Eric and the team have done a tremendous job at figuring out how to intertwine those things, so it’s not simply character stuff happening at wild incidents. It’s really threading them together and weaving them to be one in a great, super clever way. There will be moments where incidents are incidents, but we also get to realize that some of these incidents are part of something bigger. Much like we did in Season 1 with the arson story, we’re threading them into the stories that are happening at the station and our characters’ lives, which is tricky to do. Arson, frankly, is the easy one because it’s the most obvious when it comes to weaving character into the incident and having it be related. But they’ve done a really tremendous job at weaving that stuff together this season in different and clever ways.

How would you describe the scale of things this season? Are you going to have a lot of smaller incidents, but also still have the bigger incidents as well?

THIERIOT: We’ve got some big incidents. The sinkhole is a big incident. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a big, extreme incident. But some of the stuff that we get to after that is really more character and story inspired. I think it’s a good mix of the two. The incidents are significant and important, but sometimes they have more weight when they’re character-based. So, we’re going to have incidents, but we’re not blowing up Edgewater each week or burning it to the ground.

Max Thieriot Thinks Viewers Will Be Very Invested in Three Rock During ‘Fire Country’ Season 5

"We're going even deeper into it this year, so get ready."

Image via CBS

Three Rock has been worked into the storylines in pretty creative ways. What can you say about Three Rock this season? How is it going to be involved with things in Season 5?

THIERIOT: We’ve seen how bringing that focus to Three Rock and coming up with these compelling stories over there really drives the storyline. It helps to have someone not just working at Three Rock, but who is an inmate firefighter that has some connection to somebody that we know or that we’re already along for the ride with. That’s something that we’re doing this year. Obviously, Three Rock is such a big part of the show, and I think this will be a season where we get to feel like we’re very, very invested in, not just Eve’s work there, but other people who are there. It’s something that I’m really looking forward to. We’re going even deeper into it this year, so get ready.

The circumstances surrounding Bode and Chloe haven’t been easy, but their relationship has come pretty easily because they just fit together. We knew that she love him, and he finally told her that he loves her. What can you say about their relationship moving forward?

THIERIOT: We’ll get to see their relationship. We’re picking up this season not super long after where we left off. You’ll get to see their relationship, and also Jake and Violet’s relationship, in a totally different way, as they mature and move past the honeymoon phase. You’ll see these adult relationships go through their ups and downs, and the reality of how you make things work and how you go through things. The two relationships are totally different and, as couples, they’ll be going through much different things for a lot of reasons. Chloe and Bode have things that they haven’t really talked about and haven’t really faced and have avoided, and you have to work your way through those things if you want to make a relationship work and last. We’re moving past the beginning phase of that relationship and getting to see what the next phase looks like, which is a lot of fun.

You’ve talked about the possibility of another spinoff in this world with a medical series. What is the Fire Country spin on a medical TV series?

THIERIOT: I don’t want to give away too much of what the spin is. What I’ll say is that the small town and Edgewater are really such a core component of both Sheriff Country and Fire Country, and how these jobs look different in this town and these small communities. That’s a similar thing. Also, at the core of the shows is family. That’s as much as I’m going to say.

Who Is the ‘SEAL Team’ Co-Star That Max Thieriot Is Still Trying To Work Into ‘Fire Country’?

"I've just been waiting for the ideal character and the ideal moment."

Image via CBS

You’ve gotten past co-stars and friends to appear on the show and to join Fire Country. Is there anyone you’d still like to come do an episode or an arc on the show?

THIERIOT: Yeah, I’m still trying to figure out where to fit A.J. Buckley into the franchise. I’ve been so hesitant to be like, “This is the one, dude,” because I’m just very picky. Maybe I’m too picky. That’s one where I’ve just been waiting for the ideal character and the ideal moment because I know how tremendous an actor A.J. is and how dynamic he can be and what he brings to a show. That’s what I’m looking for. I’m looking for that role that’s just right, so we’ll see.

Fire Country returns for Season 5 on CBS on October 9th.