Max Thieriot Teases Jared Padalecki’s Fire Country Arc Ahead of the Spinoff

Max Thieriot I can’t reveal much about how long Jared Padalecki will linger Fire country – but it sounds like fans are in for a wild ride amid those spinoff rumors.

During an exclusive interview with We weeklyThieriot, 36, explained how his friendship with Padalecki, 42, led to them working together on season 3 of Fire country.

“Jared and I have been friends for a long time and have only ever been friends in a personal way. We never had the chance to work together,” Thieriot noted. “So this was a big thing where he and I were really excited to finally get to work together. We really have a lot of fun and our families have a great time together.”

The timing didn’t work – until now. Not much is known about Padalecki’s role for now, other than that he will play a Southern California firefighter in a three-episode arc who is interested in the raw talent of Bode (Thieriot).

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“When I knew Jared was kind of a free agent for five minutes, I was like, ‘Okay, this is the moment. Let’s do something,” Thieriot said Us. “For us it was also just finding an impactful way to introduce him to the show. I know Jared is a great actor and has such a presence on screen.”

Thieriot was happy with what his CBS show accomplished, adding, “We meet him in a very nice way.”

Us confirmed on August 12 that Padalecki would appear Fire country and multiple outlets have since reported that the short arc could spawn a spinoff. (Fire countrywhich premiered in 2022, has already been expanded with a series featuring Sharon’s (Diane Farr) stepsister Mickey (Morena Baccarin). CBS green light Sheriff country earlier this year, but the new drama isn’t expected to premiere until the 2025-2026 season.)

“Who knows where this character is going? That’s all a kind of TBD (To Be Decided). But in the meantime, on this show, we just wanted to create a really exciting and fun character arc for him,” Thieriot shared Us. “We also wanted to present him as someone who is part of this world, but feels different from our world. Someone who comes from a different part of the state – a different part of California – and someone with a completely different vibe.”

Padalecki’s character will “open up the world” to viewers. “Not every firefighter comes from small rural towns, but they can come from anywhere,” Thieriot noted.

Fire country has shifted the conversation around incarceration by following inmate Bode on his journey to shorten his prison sentence by volunteering for the California Conservation Camp Program. Bode is assigned to his hometown – and after many ups and downs – he is released early ahead of Season 3.

“Three Rock is a big part of the show and the inmate fire program is a big part of the show. So we will continue to focus on that – whether Bode is in prison or not,” Thieriot clarified. Us. “We all believe in the value and understand the message and want this to remain a real focus of the show going forward. It’s about finding different ways to use it and incorporate it into your characters’ different storylines.”

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Sergei Bachlakov/CBS As the success of Fire Country on CBS continues to grow, so does the cast. The drama series, which premiered in 2022, follows inmate Bode (Max Thieriot) as he gets the chance to shorten his prison sentence by volunteering for the California Conservation Camp Program. Bode is assigned to his hometown, where he reconnects with (…)

Since its debut in 2022 Fire country has become a big hit for CBS. This has offered Fire country the opportunity to push boundaries with the show’s storytelling.

“It is always a process to gain that trust. It’s a push and pull in a strange way. Because there are times when we take a big swing and we’re now at a point where everyone in the studio will hint like, ‘Hey, take a bigger swing,'” Thieriot, executive producer of Fire countryremembered. “There’s such a mutual trust there that they’ll give us the opportunity to make a bigger swing, and they’ll tell us if we’re swinging too big and then take it back from there.”

Thieriot praised the freedom this has given their creative team, saying: “There’s no fear in a good way. I feel like there’s always room to grow and do better and just add different layers to the show through different characters. And we’re really trying to push the boundaries while maintaining the integrity of the show.

Viewers will see some of these shifts on screen when Season 3 premieres on Friday, October 18.

“In many ways, Season 3 is so new to me because I’ve been able to act in all these spaces and interact with so many different characters on the show. Previously, that was quite limited (due to Bode’s incarceration),” he continued. “This season is really about Bode trying to fulfill his legacy as a firefighter and what the hurdles are that stand in his way and what obstacles he faces along the way. There’s also just the dynamics of a lot of different relationships that he’s involved in now that he’s out there. There are no restrictions of the camp or prison, it is exactly what is happening to this man now that he is free.”

Thieriot doesn’t just work hard in front of the camera. He is also busy directing, using the show’s platform to raise awareness of some important causes, such as the Wildland Firefighter Foundation, which provides immediate and long-term assistance to fallen and injured firefighters and their families.

“We obviously have a large platform with which we can reach many people. I took a little survey from a bunch of wildland firefighters I know. I got the same feedback back from a lot of these people who are real firefighters and they said this was an organization that really represented the community well and really tried to make a difference for them,” Thieriot explained to Us. “Wildlife firefighters – especially on the government side – are really underpaid at a time when we really need the resources to fight these fires and have firefighters willing to make these sacrifices.”

He concluded: “There have been a lot of people lately who have been thinking about the work and the toll it takes. They wonder, “Is this worth it for me to do this when I could actually make more money doing almost anything and my life is at stake?” Those people just need to feel supported and their families need to feel supported. The money goes to help injured firefighters. It’s about helping their families when they lose relatives on the job. To me it just felt like a really important thing.

Fire country returns for season 3 on CBS Friday, October 18 at 9pm ET.