Fire Country blazed onto the scene in 2022, hooking viewers immediately with its unique perspective.
It bridges the divide between those on the “right” side of the law and “criminals” trying to redeem themselves.
Fans thrived on the action-packed scenes, unique fire calls, and inspirational characters throughout Fire Country Season 1.
The main character — and series co-creator — Max Thieriot juggles a redemption arc from prisoner to inmate firefighter planning a life on the outside.
But many fans felt the same magic wasn’t there for Fire Country Season 2.
Related: Fire Country Season 2 Report Card: From Smoldering Worst Parts to the Flames of Success
Despite the reduced excitement for Fire Country’s sophomore season, the hit show received an order for a third season.
Series Regulars Will Return
Like many series recently, Fire Country has maintained a regular cast of characters who play integral parts in the storyline.
However, to keep things fresh, the show also eliminates a few familiar supporting faces to make room for new characters to develop the stories.
In its freshman year, fans enjoyed Bode’s growth and connection to his sidekick, Freddy. He got out of prison early in Fire Country Season 1 Episode 22, affecting the storylines of his sophomore season.
Freddy briefly returned in Fire Country Season 2 Episode 10 to greet Bode as he walked out of Three Rock as a free man.
While we don’t know if we’ll see Freddy again in the third season, here are the characters we know will be back.
Bode Leone (Max Thieriot)
It’s hard to imagine a show like Fire Country continuing without its main star, so it’s no surprise that Max Thieriot will return as lead character Bode (Donovan) Leone.
Since we met him in the season premiere of Fire Country Season 1 Episode 1, Bode has been on a path of self-reflection and forgiveness.
Related: Fire Country Adds a Redemption Arc to the Firefighting Genre, But Can It Handle the Heat?
His role is original in that we’re watching a flawed man on a journey to overcome his tainted past as a criminal.
Too often, we see shows that give us criminals to hate and love to watch get brought to justice.
But this time, we’re rooting for the criminal to become our good guy hero. And boy, does Bode do that uber-well!
Even when he’s disobeying the rules and doing dangerous stuff that could have backfired awfully — like running through a blazing inferno to rescue his dad in Fire Country Season 2 Episode 9.
We spent the first two seasons watching Bode walk the fine line required of the prisoner inmate firefighters living and working at Three Rock. But he’s finally on the outside as a free man.
So, it will be exciting to see him traverse life on the outside as he tries to adjust to no longer having the thrills of firefighting to get an adrenaline rush.
Bode may be a familiar face to fans of the CBS drama series. He appeared as the young cocky new frog member Clay Spencer.
He became a fantastic operator in SEAL Team Seasons 1 through 6, opposite big names like David Boreanaz and A.J. Buckley.
Related: From Sizzle to Fizzle: Is Fire Country Flaming Out and Burning Bridges Along the Way?
Sharon Leone (Diane Farr)
Shows with strong, memorable supporting characters hit differently for fans. So, it’s good that Fire Country has many of them.
Firefighting is a family affair for the Leones, and Sharon is part of a dynamic duo that proves you can work with your spouse and still get along — most of the time.
Sharon has been a badass since the first season because she’s a transplant warrior.
She struggled with her life-threatening kidney failure during the freshman season, finally receiving a kidney donation from brother-in-law Luke in Fire Country Season 1 Episode 22.
She did a disappearing act and returned for the sophomore season in a whirl of drama with a surprising tagalong and a major grudge against her son, Bode.
It caused a bit of a bump in likeability, leaving many fans undecided about her character.
But the entire second season felt a bit off as writers tried to cram a whole season of storylines into a truncated 10-episode format.
Related: Despite the Danger of Fire Fighting, Fire Country Racks Up Remarkably Few Deaths
Thankfully, things jumped back on track midseason, landing Sharon back as a badass CalFire and then Chief of Station 42 when Vince had to step down.
In the tenth episode of the second season, she announced that she was ready to take back her role as Division Chief from Luke. We’re ready to see her get back to being everyone’s boss!
Will she be able to pull some strings and get Bode back to firefighting?
Farr has appeared on several of our favorite series, including Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Good Doctor, Charmed, and The Secret Life of an American Teenager.
As a series regular, she’s been on Splitting Up Together, Chance, Numb3rs, Californication, Like Family, Rescue Me, and The Job, among others.
Vince Leone (Billy Burke)
The second half of the power couple that influenced Bode’s badass firefighting genes is CalFire Station 42 Fire Chief Vince Leone.
Vince is one of those supporting characters — literally and figuratively — that is powerful enough to put you in the feels with his supportive nature towards his wife and son.
He’s a powerful firefighter and a loving dad, even to those he didn’t create. The way he embraces those in his orbit, like Jake, Eve, and Gabriela — and even Gene once Cara died — makes Vince the perfect father figure for today’s TV.
Vince had experienced a run of bad luck, from losing his daughter Riley when she was a teenager to having his only son locked up in prison.
It’s no wonder Vince was determined to hide his heart condition after experiencing an electrical shock in Fire Country Season 2 Episode 7.
Related: When Going Off the Rails Makes for Excellent TV
He gave Bode a moving speech during the Lazarus campaign fire, explaining that if he disclosed his heart issues, he wouldn’t be able to fight fires with Bode once he was out of prison.
The second season’s biggest terror was seeing him collapse with an out-of-control wildfire blazing around him.
We ended the season with Vince and Bode both out of fighting fires, at least temporarily. It’ll be Fire Country Season 3 before we fight out if the Leone men are out of the fire business for good.
Billy Burke isn’t a stranger to fire shows. He starred as Billy Tyson for eight episodes on 9-1-1: Lone Star before scoring the Station 42 Fire Chief role.
You might also know him from the sparkly vampire book-turned-movies Twilight or suspense films like Along Came a Spider and Final Jeopardy.
He also appeared in series like Major Crimes, Gilmore Girls, 24, My Boys, Rizzoli & Isles, Revolution, Zoo, and Maid.
Jake Crawford (Jordan Calloway)
Jake Crawford started the series as Bode’s ex-best friend, who played a part in the death of Bode’s little sister.
It took some time for fans to warm up to Vince’s right-hand man, but he quickly won us over as he and Bode started to mend bridges.
Although we thought it would go bad when Jake ended up with Bode’s ex-girlfriend in the first season.
Related: Fire Country’s Jordan Calloway on Season 2, Jake’s Evolution, and the Power of a Good Redemption Story
We’ve seen tremendous growth in Jake’s character as we watch him embrace the role of fire captain and father figure to orphaned Genevieve.
The writers have tested Calloway’s character throughout the two seasons of Fire Country.
From making him look like an arsonist in Fire Country Season 1 Episode 16 to losing the love of his life right as he was about to propose to her in Fire Country Season 2 Episode 5, Jake has been through a lot.
And it looks like more difficulties might be in store for him in the third season, with newcomer Rick in town, hoping to discover if he has a long-lost daughter.
Related: Fire Country’s Sabina Gadecki on That Shocking Cara Twist and the Impact of the Smash CBS Drama
The same daughter that Jake is raising as his own after convincing Bode and the Leones not to adopt her, as Cara said during her deathbed confession to Bode.
Before Jordan portrayed firefighter Jake, he had a long-standing role as Painkiller on Black Lightning. He also appeared in six episodes of Riverdale, nine episodes of Freakish, 41 episodes of Unfabulous, and seven episodes of ER.
Eve Edwards (Jules Latimer)
Eve Edwards has been slaying it as Fire Country’s queer woman of color and Bode’s best friend turned boss.
Fire Country isn’t shy about showing kick-ass women fighting fires alongside the men, but in a less obnoxious way than Station 19 ended up doing.
We’ve seen Eve evolve more in a professional manner than in a personal one. We’re still waiting to see her find someone serious to fulfill her the way being Captain at Three Rock is doing.
Eve has been an avid Bode supporter since day 1, often acting as a mediator between Bode and Jake, rounding out the dynamic trio of childhood friends.
Jules Latimer is a relative newcomer to acting, with only three acting credits to her name.
Before Fire Country, Latimer starred in Rustin, a 2023 film, and ten episodes of Guilty Party, a 2021 TV series.
Related: Why Has Gen Z Produced So Few Prominent TV Stars?
Manny Perez (Kevin Alejandro)
When we met Manny Perez in Fire Country Season 1, he was the Captain of Three Rock.
And he was perfect at his job because he’d been in the shoes of the men under his command. As a former inmate, he helped inspire the men to be more than a label.
He took Bode under his wing and helped spark something buried in him that he didn’t know existed.
By the second season, Manny had lost control of Three Rock and was back at Station 42 as a regular firefighter. But his troubles didn’t stop with losing his command.
The sophomore season concluded with Manny in handcuffs, being escorted away in the back of a squad car.
Will we need to drop the ex from ex-con?
What we love most about Manny is that he’s flawed. Above all else, he loves his only daughter, Gabriela.
Related: With Representation Declining Industry-Wide, Is TV Failing Its LGBTQ+ Viewers?
Kevin Alejandro had a successful career before landing on Fire Country as our original former convict turned firefighter.
He made an excellent cop and friend to Lucifer for 93 episodes, played Mayor Sebastian Blood on Arrow, and scored two seasons on True Blood.
Gabriela Perez (Stephanie Arcila)
Gabriela Perez is one half of the on-again, off-again Bodelia couple, although things should be off for good if Gabriela went through with her wedding to yummy paramedic Diego.
Before Gabriela joined CalFire to become a firefighter like her father, she was a medal-winning Olympic diver.
After Bode returns to prison at the end of the first season, Gabriela changes her life completely.
She abandoned her decision to be a firefighter and became a paramedic for CalFire, choosing to remain at Station 42.
While training for certification, she met her fiance — possibly her husband if the wedding happened.
Gabriela’s character has been up and down throughout the two seasons. The writers have given her relationship with Bode far too much drama, often overshadowing her professional career.
Related: Fire Country Round Table: Are the Storylines Getting a Little Too Soapy?
It would be great to see less focus on her personal side and more on her being the badass she’s shown the potential to become.
Characters Potentially Returning for Short Scenes
Every show has its main characters and supporting characters, and some occasionally show up to work on a specific storyline.
This was visible with Bode’s first sidekick, Freddy, a prominent member for the first season but absent for most of the second season.
But that doesn’t mean Bode didn’t have a supportive black best friend to get him through the second season (not including Eve and Jake, who also fall into that category).
Instead, we got Cole (Tye White), who was tense with the new fire captain, Eve, in Fire Country Season 2 Episode 4.
It’s unclear if Cole will be back for the show’s third season or if we’ll get another new friend to keep Bode on the straight and narrow.
We also expect Rafael de la Fuente to return as Diego, Bode’s competition for Gabriela’s love. When the second season ended, he and Gabriela were in the middle of their wedding.
And he’s part of CalFire, so it would be expected for his pretty face to be in an episode or several, even if he isn’t Mr. Gabriela Perez.
Luke Leone is the backstabbing brother who doesn’t mind screwing over his family, as we saw in Fire Country Season 2 Episode 8.
Related: Will Sheriff Country Spread the Fire Country Franchise Too Thin?
He first targets Sharon, his sister-in-law, and then spends the entire second season trying to shut down Three Rock, even though his nephew is there.
There’s a big chance he’ll return for multiple episodes in the third season. We’ll have to wait and see in what position with CalFire.
He ended the second season as Deputy Chief, but Sharon said she’s taking her job back. So, what will Luke do next?
Another face we expect to see but have yet to get confirmed is the newest face on Fire Country, Sheriff Mickey Fox.
Fox is Sharon’s sister and came onto the show in Fire Country Season 2 Episode 6. Her appearance set the premise for a series spinoff, set to air in 2025.
She only appeared in the one episode of Fire Country to gauge fans’ reactions to the character ahead of a spinoff.
There is no word on whether we’ll get more of her with the family on FC before she gets her own show.
If you’re eager to see what’s next for our favorite CalFire firefighters, tune in for the third season, which will air in Fall 2024.
Sara Trimble is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. You can follow her on X.