Those hoping for crossovers between Fire Country and Sheriff Country may be in for a disappointment as a major obstacle to such team-ups is coming!
It’s no shock CBS would want to do a spinoff of Fire Country. The firefighting drama had been a hit since its debut in 2022 and established itself as a success for the network. CBS was wise to take their time developing it with a classic “backdoor pilot” in Fire Country’s second season.
That introduced Mickey Fox (Morena Baccarin), the sister of Sharon (Diane Farr), a sheriff for Edgewater. The two had a strained relationship, but they were coming together, with Sharon helping Mickey on a case and Mickey returning the favor on a tough fire disaster.
This sets up the spinoff, Sheriff Country, which is set to debut this October. In an interview with TVLine, Baccarin confirmed that the show’s first season has a 20-episode order. That’s common for CBS shows, and likely Fire Country season 4 has an identical episode count.
This looks like a good partnership between the shows, with crossovers possible. However, there’s a big reason that may not be happening!
Why is Sheriff Country filmed so far off?
The TVLine article revealed that Farr will be making a cameo on Sheriff Country’s first episode, which also establishes Mickey’s relationship with her ex-con father Wes (W. Earl Brown), deputy Nathan Boone (Matt Lauria), and Mickey’s recovering addict daughter Skye (Amanda Arcuri).
Farr had stated that crossovers will be complex as “we shoot on opposite ends of Canada.” As it stands, Fire Country, like many shows, films in Vancouver, uses those woods to stand in for California. However, Sheriff Country films in Toronto.
The reason for that is Baccarin herself, who had a personal motive for making sure the series was filmed where it is.
“I said to them, ‘This is a no-brainer for me, but I cannot shoot in Vancouver. There’s, like, no way that my family survives, with three kids in New York City. [There’s no way] that this could work.”
Baccarin lives in New York with her husband, Ben McKenzie, with whom she starred on the DC Comics crime show Gotham, raising their two children along with Baccarin’s 11-year-old son from a previous marriage.
To Baccarin’s surprise, the producers agreed to her terms, allowing her to easily fly back to New York on weekends for her family. The actress admitted taking on a new show was daunting, “but I’m cautiously optimistic. I’m really excited about the series. It’s a great premise. It’s a great character. I really, truly love the people that I’m working with who are creating the show.”
So while we may not get as many crossovers between Fire Country and Sheriff Country as we’d like, at least the latter sounds like it’s set for a big run on CBS.
Sheriff Country premieres Friday, Oct. 17 at 9/8c on CBS.
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