‘Fire Country’: Max Thieriot on Jelly Roll’s Guest Spot, Directing Season Finale Part 1 & More

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Max Thieriot shared that the last three episodes of Fire Country Season 3 are going to be intense for Bode and Gabriela (Stephanie Arcila). And there’s quite a bit coming up to easily make that the case.

After this week’s brought back Morena Baccarin as Bode’s aunt, Sheriff Mickey Fox ahead of her spinoff, Sheriff Country, premiering next season, the April 11 episode will see a guest spot from Jelly Roll. Two weeks after that is the two-part finale, the first hour of which — with a fire erupting at a gas station and Bode and Manny (Kevin Alejandro) jumping into action — was directed by Thieriot himself. Then in the conclusion, extremely high winds and dangerous conditions push the Zebel Ridge fire into Edgewater, threatening Three Rock and Walter’s (Jeff Fahey) care facility.

Below, Thieriot previews the remaining episodes of Season 3 and how the finale will leave Bode.

Talk about bringing in Jelly Roll.

Max Thieriot: What a perfect person to bring into the show, not only because of how much country music is a big part of our series and the stories they tell and how they relate to the stories that we tell, but just who he is as a person and what he’s gone through and what he represents and what he stands for. I mean, the guy has an incredible personal story of somebody who’s really seen it all and been in some of the darkest places that anybody could want to be in, and then to see him overcome that, overcome all of those demons, want to change and then not only change his ways but become a person who’s inspiring other people to want to do the same… He has this joy and just this kind spirit to him that honestly, frankly, it’s almost hard to imagine he was whatever guy he was at one point because he’s wonderful. He’s wonderful to be around, and when you hear him talk, you can’t help but be inspired.

Sergei Bachlakov / CBS

So it was a lot of fun. He was a big fan of the show, I was a big fan of his music, and there’s so much great synergy. Obviously it wasn’t easy to get him on the show. He’s busier than about anybody right now. But I think his willingness to find the time and to not only make the time to show up and do it, but to put in the work that he put in before he showed up with his scenes and coaching on his acting stuff, it was just really remarkable and a real testament to his work ethic and also just the person he is.

He’s involved in this storyline with Walter. How’s Noah going to help the Leones and how might the Leones help Noah?

I think it’s certainly one of those situations where — well, I think that he helps the Leones more than the Leones help him, but I think there’s always sort of that reflection thing that happens when you get to do that, and when you get to help somebody out and help them sort of find their peace that you can’t help but have it leave an impact on you. And Noah has some personal experiences from his life that he went through with family members and there’s just a calmness to him and his presence that I feel like Vince [Billy Burke] just is willing to let down some of those real stubborn walls that he has and let an outsider in and in some of his most vulnerable places, which is his relationship with his father.

You always do a great job directing and you directed part one of the season finale…

It was super exciting. It’s funny. Starting off, they were going through all these different ideas for what that opening incident was going to be, and they said, “Max, do you want to — What if we do the gas station thing? We know you’ve always been talking about a gas station thing.” And I was like, “Yeah, how do we mix that into the story?” [It was about] trying to build it in because it’s like, the incident is great, but if it doesn’t service the story… So how [do] we use that to tell the story that we’re also telling and have it go with where we’re at in the season?

But I’ll tell you right now when we started filming and there was a foot of snow on the ground everywhere, completely unavoidable with a camera and they said, “What are we going to do?” I said, “Well, we’re going to embrace it. There’s nothing we can do.” But I was like, “Man, I’m so glad you guys brought up doing this gas station thing because let me tell you, this is about the only thing on the planet right now that is flammable with this much snow around us. So this was really good timing, guys, great timing to do the gas station thing.”

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But we did some really fun big action sequences, stunt sequences, and just — I don’t know if it’s maybe that I want to be a documentary filmmaker or what, but I always love stuff to be real. And so we had some pretty cool stunt sequences that they wanted to figure out how to rig and do all this stuff. And I was like, “What do you mean? No, we’re doing it for real. We’re not rigging it. We’re just doing it.” And they were like, “What?!” I was like, “No, that’s fine. I’ve done this before. I’ve seen this before.” There’s always a little bit of that when I come in, that they go like, “Alright, what’s Max going to want to do?”

We had the biggest explosion we’ve done on the show. But it was funny. It’s like now the third episode of Fire Country I’ve directed. First thing our special effects guys say is, “We’re going to make it big.” And I’m like, “Sweet, let’s go.”

What can you preview about the finale and this fire that’s going to be threatening Three Rock and Walter’s care facility? Will anyone die?

Well, I can’t say if anyone will die, but given the people who were involved and given the scale of this fire, I think that the fire could potentially impact these people forever going forward. I think that it’s a big enough threat that anything could happen.

How do Bode and Vince handle that fire though? Because of where it is, how much is that weighing on them and affecting their decision-making?

I think it certainly is. I think first and foremost, the Leones follow a chain of command and they try and stick to protocol as much as possible and as a resource, when there’s a greater wildland fire happening and they were dispatched to a part of that fire, they respond accordingly and they do what they’re told. But I think that when it hits a point, obviously when there’s a fire like that, the priority is saving lives above everything. It’s saving lives. And so once lives are at risk, we see their focus change and their objective, and obviously, when it becomes personal, it becomes that much more weighted.

How is the finale going to leave off to set up Season 4? How would you describe the cliffhanger? Because Fire Country loves cliffhangers.

Man, like, game changer. I think it’s shocking. It’s going to make an impact for sure.

And how is Bode doing at the end of the season? Where does leave him compared to Seasons 1 and 2?

I think Bode has gone on a pretty big journey this season and made a lot of progress towards his ultimate goal of this Leone legacy that he has finally embraced. I think he does a lot of reflecting on what that means, and especially given everything he’s going through and everything he’s seeing with his dad and his grandfather, the way that it ends is in a way that could only make that be something that progresses more or it could sort of leave him questioning what his legacy is at the same time. I think it leaves him at a big turning point in his life and his career, a real crossroads for sure.

Fire Country, Fridays, 9/8c, CBS