‘Fire Country’: Max Thieriot Talks Season 5 Episode Count & What’s Next for Bode

When Fire Country returns with its fifth season in the fall, it will do so with only 13 episodes. (Season 4 had 20.) But, if you ask series star, co-creator, and executive producer Max Thieriot, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

“It gives us a chance to really dig in on the 13 best episodes,” he tells TV Insider.

The Season 4 finale ended on a happy note: Bode returned Chloe’s (Alona Tal) “I love you,” Jake (Jordan Calloway) and Violet (Nesta Cooper) got married, everyone celebrated, and Danny (Mike O’Malley) decided not to press charges against Bode for attacking him years earlier after the firefighter and his best friend saved him from the flood.

Below, Thieriot looks ahead to Season 5.

Season 5 is going to have 13 episodes. What can you say about what that means for next season and what you’re looking at in terms of stories?

Max Thieriot: I mean, I hate to say this, but when you do 20 episodes, it feels like whatever the show is, you end up having a couple that feel like a filler episode, for lack of a better term. They just don’t have the same weight as some of the other episodes. And I’m over here obviously reading them, so it’s easier for me to say that from afar. But I’ve been doing this long enough now where I get it, it’s 20 episodes. It’s hard to arc out story for 20 episodes and create 20 significant episodes in a season. That’s a real challenge.

Sergei Bachlakov/CBS

And so, for me, one of the blessings of doing 13 episodes is that there’s less to be thinking about in the large scheme, so, you can arc out your season and each episode is that much more significant and that much more important. There’s times when maybe they feel a little packed with story or like you’re going through stuff quicker, but, at the same time, I think when you build a timeline that makes sense in the world, that doesn’t bump on you. But yeah, it gives us a chance to really dig in on the 13 best episodes. And so honestly, I’m excited about that.

What can you tease about Season 5, and will everyone be back?

As far as I know, everybody’s come back. I don’t think we’re going to have any crazy, like, it’s after the wedding and everybody’s dead moment. I don’t think you have to worry about that.

But this season we’re going to introduce some new characters into the show in a deeper way, I think, than we’ve done in the past. We’ve brought characters into the series in the past, but generally, they haven’t ended up becoming as significant throughout the season as I think sometimes we thought maybe they would become. And so this season — and that’s the other beauty of 13, is there’s a much clearer sort of map. We have some characters that are coming in that are really going to be important characters in the season and play throughout.

What about for Bode? How’s Bode going to be doing?

Bode is going to be driven with new purpose this next season. I think last season, he was kind of trying to re-find himself after losing his dad and find his place and figure out who he is as a firefighter and where he belongs. And this season, I think we’re going to get to see a really driven Bode and a more mature Bode, which is exciting. I think even last season, he still had moments of that impulsive Bode, but I think we’re going to get to see the evolution of his character and watch him mature more and become the man not necessarily that Vince [Billy Burke] was, but become the man who’s going to step up to be that guy, that guy for the community and just that person that everybody can rely on.

Obviously, it’s going to come with its own set of challenges because clearly Vince didn’t go to jail and leave town and burn a bunch of bridges. So, a part of that journey for Bode is also going to have to be earning that respect and that trust back from everybody to be able to become that guy.

The soft pitch is like, he’s got to go and see these people that have known him when he was young and say, “Hey, you remembered me when I was this kid and I became this person for a period of time, but I’m back and I am this guy now.” So, I think that it’s good to see that. Driven Bode will be really fun.

Related

'Fire Country': Max Thieriot Goes Behind the Scenes of Finale's Catastrophic Flood (PHOTOS)

I know we’re going to play some sort of fun tension and mystery stuff. Some characters are going to do some things that are sort of out of character for their characters, which is fun. We’re going to get to see a little more levity at the fire station, hopefully save some of the soapy drama for the environment that feels correct for that, and then get to see a little more of the fun at the firehouse and really live in that world a little more and get an insider’s look on what it’s like to be a firefighter, not only on calls, but at the station. So that’s going to be a lot of fun, I think.

And then we have some really cool incidents that we’re cooking up and we’re going to get to see the town rally in new ways that we haven’t seen, especially after Pineville had a flood. We’re going to see Pineville overextended and needing resources.

There’s a lot of really great stuff that’s in this season and I’m super excited.

When Richards (Shawn Hatosy) came in, no one wanted him there, but by the time he returned later in the season and by the finale, he does seem to be fitting in. He’s giving out advice. How did Bode’s opinion of him change throughout the season, and will we see him again next season?

I think Bode’s opinion certainly changed. I think he just saw him in the beginning, obviously, as a dude who was coming in and stepping into his dad’s station. Frankly, I think it could have been anybody in that moment. If anyone came in, it wouldn’t have mattered. I think nobody could have done right. And so I think that Richards wasn’t ever really given a fair chance, especially in Bode’s eyes in the beginning, but certainly, I think everybody has come around to this guy and understood this guy has a lot of his own sort of baggage that he comes with and pain, but on top of that, the guy also has a lot of experience and he’s a smart firefighter and he’s been doing it for a long time. And so I think once Bode’s able to put the emotional aspect aside and see him for the firefighter and senior firefighter with experience that he is, I think Bode starts to have a lot more respect for him.

I love Shawn. Shawn’s my guy, so we’ll see. I would love for Richards to come back because I think there’s so much more to explore with that character than just have him be the voice of reason. It’s like he’s the inner voice for a lot of characters a lot of time. I would love to see him come back and get to explore some of his storylines in a more intimate way than we’ve gotten to, one, because of the character, and two, because I love Shawn.

Fire Country, Season 5, Fall 2026, Fridays, 9/8c, CBS

More Headlines:

• ‘Fire Country’: Max Thieriot Talks Season 5 Episode Count & What’s Next for Bode
• ‘Stranger Things’ Star David Harbour Says Child Actors Farted During Takes
• Nancy Guthrie Update: Investigators Already Have Suspect’s Name, Says Retired Pima County Sheriff’s Detective
• Will There Be a 2-Hour ‘FBI’ & ‘CIA’ Crossover Next Season?
• ‘Virgin River’ Actor Stewart McLean Found Dead 1 Week After Going Missing