Casting for the role, a female sheriff, is currently underway. Sources warn that the possible spin-off is not a formal backdoor pilot order. CBS could take several paths with the new character if the episode is well received, either by incorporating the character into its own series or adding the actress to the cast of the current Fire Country series.
CBS's decision to explore a Fire Country spinoff isn't surprising, considering that the CBS Studios-produced drama starring Max Thieriot was the most-watched new series last season, averaging 8 million viewers per episode, 10 million in live+35 multiplatform viewers.
“It’s pretty remarkable to see a new series resonate like this with both broadcast and streaming audiences right out of the gate,” CBS’ Entertainment President Amy Reisenbach said in announcing Fire Country‘s early Season 2 renewal last January.
CBS president and CEO George Cheeks hinted at the possibility of a Fire Country spinoff during a conversation with Deadline's Peter White in June at the Banff World Media Festival.
“We are focused on mass-appeal franchises,” Cheeks said. “This season’s number one show was Fire Country, which completely lends itself to building out a whole new universe… 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.”
While many spinoff attempts come later in a successful series’ run, including NCIS, Law & Order, Grey’s Anatomy, The Rookie, and The Good Doctor, CSI also started expanding with a planted episode during its second seasons, leading to spinoff CSI: Miami. Procedural king Dick Wolf has done it even faster with the One Chicago and FBI franchises, starting the process in the mothership series’ first season.
Some franchise stay within the same arena, like NCIS, CSI, FBI or Law & Order. Fire Country is taking the universe route where each series is set in a different line of work, like One Chicago, Grey’s Anatomy/Station 19, The Rookie/Rookie: Feds or the proposed The Good Doctor/Good Lawyer.
Fire Country stars Thieriot as Bode Donovan, a young convict seeking redemption and a shortened prison sentence by joining a prison release firefighting program in his rural Northern California hometown.
The series, from Jerry Bruckheimer Television and CBS Studios, is inspired by Thieriot’s experiences growing up in fire country and stems from an original idea by the actor, who also co-penned the story for the pilot with its writers, Tony Phelan and Joan Rater. All three executive produce.
The upcoming abbreviated second season of Fire Country, delayed by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, is slated to premiere Feb. 16.
Executive producer/showrunner Tia Napolitano teased what to expect during the writers’ first day back. “Honestly, Season 2 is not a continuation of Season 1. It’s the next chapter,” she told Deadline. “My goal is to, the first time we see each and every character, the audience will gasp and be shocked, everyone’s story will be very, very surprising from the moment you see them.”