CBS's Fire Country Officially Enters A New Era In Season 5

Published Oct 16, 2026, 10:00 PM EDT

Adam has been writing in the entertainment news space for over a decade. Beginning his career of covering film and TV at CinemaBlend, he has also appeared on The Flash Podcast and done several radio spots. 

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Warning: SPOILERS for Fire Country season 5, episode 2 are ahead!Fire Country season 5 has kicked off a new era with the addition of a new series regular.

Last week, the season 5 premiere introduced Olivia Thirbly’s Cecilia Jade “CJ” Ryan, a former firefighter from Pennsylvania with a mysterious past. Bode met CJ while she was camping near Edgewater and invited her to come to the town’s Founders’ Day. It ended up being more eventful than either of them expected, as CJ ended up falling into a sinkhole, then found herself in the line of fire when a gunman attacked the fire station.

Tonight’s Fire Country episode on CBS's fall 2026 TV schedule, titled "Fire Under Fire," was even more eventful for Thirlby’s character. While CJ initially tried to leave Edgewater early the following day, she instead helped put out a massive vegetation fire where, once again, the firefighters were attacked by the same gunman. In the midst of all this, it was revealed that CJ was on the run after she blew the whistle on her battalion chief and the rest of her crew for taking kickbacks, and she nearly got killed in retaliation.

Ahead of Fire Country season 5’s premiere, ScreenRant’s Adam Holmes spoke with Thirlby about taking on the role of CJ, who decided to stay in Edgewater while her car is being repaired, and will pass the time by helping restart Edgewater’s volunteer firefighting department. Thirlby is the first brand-new actor to be added to Fire Country’s main cast since the show began in 2022, and she was told early on that CJ would be a true standout among the established characters. Regarding what she hopes fans will find most compelling about CJ, the actor said:

I hope that they will enjoy her sense of humor, which is very dry and sarcastic. I've been told by the writers, and also from previous seasons, that there hasn't really ever been a voice, a sense of humor quite like hers on the show. So I'm really hoping that fans just get to enjoy her sarcasm, her dry comments, her eye rolls, her spunkiness and sassiness. And I also hope that they get to enjoy seeing her passion, because she's actually quite a tender soul underneath it all, and is so passionate about what she does, and I think is really good at it. So I hope they'll enjoy seeing the dichotomy of her as well.

Although CJ initially thought that the gunman was specifically targeting her on behalf of her former corrupt coworkers, it turned out to be Bryce Moffat, an Edgewater resident who blamed the town’s firefighters for the death of his mother. However, that doesn’t mean that CJ’s old life is fully behind her, whether it be, as Thirlby described it, “in terms of physical circumstances or emotional circumstances.” So as Fire Country season 5 progresses, CJ will continue to “reckon with some of the impact of her past experiences.”

While there are still gaps left to be filled in CJ’s past, Thirlby has welcomed getting to explore another “flawed character.” She’s previously done this in Y: The Last Man, The L Word: Generation Q, Law & Order: Organized Crime, Dredd, and Between Us, among other movies and TV shows. Regarding her interest in such roles, Thirlby explained:

Well, I'm really drawn to flawed characters, and so when I get to play a character that really has something that they're running from, a traumatic event that has impacted them, that has impacted their ability to feel safe in the world, to trust other people, to have clarity about their purpose and how they want to show up, that’s just so fascinating to me. It's such rich territory… I think that someone's journey, from the pain of betrayal back into being able to trust and belong, is one of the most compelling journeys that we could tell as storytellers.

How CJ’s New Relationships Will Impact Fire Country Season 5

ScreenRant: At the end of next week’s episode, CJ agrees to stick around until her car’s fixed and help form the volunteer fire department. What kind of leader can we expect to see her as?

I think as a leader, CJ is very collaborative in her collaboration with Bode. They work really well as a team. She walks this interesting line between no nonsense, as well as a deep sense of kindness and gentleness. She’s also very confident as a leader. She knows what she knows when she knows it, and it's important to her that people listen and pay attention.

ScreenRant: Bode is the first one to meet CJ, and he persuades her to stay in Edgewater. What kind of dynamic can we expect to form between these two? Will it be purely professional or develop into something more?

I think there is a uniqueness to the connection between CJ and Bode. There's something in him that despite herself, she immediately trusts. You can definitely expect to see a really collaborative and creative friendship, and like a deepening of a friendship too. The two of them really have an opportunity to get to know each other, to get to know each other’s flaws, weaknesses, strengths, to have each other's backs, and to learn what it means to actually be in each other's lives.

ScreenRant: Which of CJ's other new relationships are you most looking forward to viewers seeing?

I'm really grateful to the writing on this show and the amazing writers of the show, because they've written C.J. so many fun relationships, so many fun dynamics. I guess what I can say is, there's a little something for everyone. I think that CJ has quite a rich social life in Edgewater, both personally and professionally.

What It Was Like For Olivia Thirlby Filming Her First Fire Country Episodes

CBS

ScreenRant: What was it like for you joining Fire Country as the newcomer amidst this tight-knit cast that’s been together four seasons already?

It has been nothing short of a pleasure. Everyone is so lovely, so cool, so talented, so fun to work with, and everyone has been incredibly welcoming and enthusiastic, and so I've had an amazing time getting to join the crew. I feel so cool.

ScreenRant: Was there anything that surprised you about Fire Country when you came on, whether it’s about the production process, cast dynamics, etc.?

Oh my goodness. I would say I was just so constantly pleasantly surprised by what a high vibe the set is, how much fun everybody is having, how hard everyone is working, and another beautiful surprise was just how much I enjoy getting to work in the woods and the mountains. I mean, that's not actually surprising to me because, given who I am, it makes a lot of sense, but I've never had the experience of getting to shoot so much in beautiful old-growth pine forests and that has been truly a gift so far on this season.

ScreenRant: CJ gets off to an eventful start in Edgewater in this first episode, both falling into a sinkhole, and then being at the fire station when a shooter targeted it. What was your reaction when you first read the script and see everything CJ would go through?

Well, I learned right away on this show that a lot happens in Edgewater. Edgewater is just doing the most in terms of high stakes events. So it was actually a really fun introduction to the show. And I think, you know, CJ, is pretty overwhelmed by some of the events that unfold, but you'll have to watch the second episode to see how she responds to what happens in the first episode.

ScreenRant: What was the process like of shooting the [“Founders’ Day”] scenes set inside the sinkhole?

It was so cool. The sinkhole was a set. It was built in the studio. It's one of the coolest sets I've ever seen, actually, It was sort of like being in a gigantic bowl, and the insides of it were, you know, just so masterfully created and filled with all of the dirt and concrete and cars and debris and all this stuff, and it was really fun shooting those scenes. It was definitely a crash course introduction to what it's like working in the world of Fire Country. Really physically demanding, like a fun combination of shooting, action stuff and dialogue stuff. Very much intermingled, which is like a new and fun muscle for me to be flexing. Yeah, I remember those days as being really long, really exhausting and really fun.

ScreenRant: How intense or complex was it filming the episode airing next week, which has two massive fires going at an active shooter, along with some “bees” as a bonus?

It was very physically demanding. When there are scenes of us hiking up a mountain carrying gear, we're really hiking up a mountain carrying gear. It's something that they gave me a heads-up about before I joined the show that it actually is quite physically demanding, and it's actually an aspect of this that I was really drawn to. I love getting the chance to use, like, a physicality in my roles. And the environment on set is so much fun, and also everyone's working really hard. It’s not just the actors, by the way, who you're seeing, do all that stuff.

Everybody up there has carried their own equipment, most of which is a lot heavier than what we're carrying around, all the way up the mountain. So there's this really fun vibe of everyone being in it together, shooting in such beautiful locations together, working really, really hard and having a lot of fun. So I was noticing that I was finishing those days absolutely exhausted and really inspired to go back and do it all again the next day.

• Our Fire Country season 5 review.
• Max Thieriot explaining Fire Country season 5's reduced episode count.
• Details about the next crossover between Fire Country and Sheriff Country.
• Thieriot and Sheriff County's Morena Baccarin teasing a multi-show romance.
• Fire Country showrunner Eric Guggenheim breaking down the season 5 premiere.

Fire Country airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on CBS.