‘Fire Country’: Max Thieriot Says Season 4 Finale Ending Was Necessary

Fire Country‘s fourth season got off to a heartbreaking start, with the death of Vince (Billy Burke), a loss that reverberated across the show with his wife Sharon (Diane Farr), his son Bode (Max Thieriot), and all of station 42 and Edgewater. The finale is emotional as well, as the firefighters battle a catastrophic flood, but it ends on a much happier note. TV Insider spoke with Thieriot about shaping the end of the season like that after the start and much more. Warning: Spoilers for the Fire Country Season 4 finale ahead!

Bode and Jake (Jordan Calloway) spend most of the episode trying and eventually succeeding in rescuing Danny (Mike O’Malley), whose house is completely submerged by the flood; he doesn’t want their help since years ago, Bode attacked him in his home. But by the end of the episode, he does take Bode’s words to heart to forgive himself and reach out to his family — and decides he doesn’t want the firefighter to turn himself in for what he did.

Meanwhile, Manny (Kevin Alejandro), Eve (Jules Latimer), and Three Rock work together to protect Pineville’s hospital and its patients, including his ex-wife having an aneurysm clipped. His new girlfriend, Camille (Natalie Zea), is by her side the entire time.

The episode and season ends with joy: Jake and Violet’s (Nesta Cooper) wedding. And when he realizes that their rings were swept away in the flood, Bode and Sharon step up with her and Vince’s rings. It’s a touching moment. The last scenes are of the reception, where Bode tells Chloe (Alona Tal) he loves her; Sharon tells Manny she’s going on a road trip with Alexi (Brett Tucker); and everyone dances together.

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Below, Max Thieriot breaks down the Season 4 finale.

You end the season on a happy note. Is it because that joy was certainly needed after how the season began? Was it always the plan to do that?

Max Thieriot: Yeah, I think given the nature of what the job is, it’s easy to get drawn into storylines that are difficult and emotionally, I guess, down just because of the nature of what these people do. But I think it’s also really important that two things. One, you’re finding fun in the firehouse and feeling this camaraderie is super important and lace that throughout episodes. But two, I think we felt like, yeah, given where we started, we wanted to finish on a positive note. We wanted to finish with some hope and some joy and something new, new beginnings. And so I know that was certainly something that we wanted to do at the end of the season.

Bode and Chloe’s relationship really seems to be working despite the way it got messy early on. Why is that? Why is it working as well as it is?

I don’t know. I think because they’re weirdly, in a strange way, very different from any relationship that Bode’s had yet in the show. And I think it’s a lot more, even though Bode doesn’t have a kid of his own, of an adult relationship. And I think because of that, there’s a little less drama aside from the obvious drama that happens in the beginning of the season that nobody saw coming, including Chloe. But I think aside from that, I think there’s more life that’s been lived for these two independently of each other that I think they’re able to approach it at a more mature sort of way. And Alona was my wife before, so it’s easy.

I mean, yeah, you two are so great on screen together. That’s the thing.

Yeah, she’s fun. She’s a lot of fun to work with and she’s a super talented actress, so just lucky. Lucky we got to have her in the season and hopefully seasons to come and everything else. So just happy to be able to work with her again, honestly.

And hopefully there’s a happier ending to their relationship than on SEAL Team.

[Laughs] Yeah, hopefully it’s not that.

So, what you were saying, does that factor in why Bode has been able to move on from Gabriela (Stephanie Arcila) in a way he couldn’t with Audrey (Leven Rambin)? Because he does tell Chloe he loves her in the finale.

I think so. I don’t know. We don’t have everything laid out yet, but I think I’d be naive to believe that Bode didn’t always have some spot in his heart for Gabriela. I think that has to exist in there. But I think also, again, these are two people who I think because this relationship is more mature, they’re able to accept that they may have given a piece of themselves to somebody else. And I think love also has many forms. He did say it and not that he didn’t mean it, but I don’t know. I mean, I feel like I’d be surprised if Bode didn’t have some piece of him that is still out there wondering.

We hear that Gabriela is in town because of her mom, but we don’t see her. So it feels like Bode would still be torn if he saw her during this visit, it wouldn’t go away. There would be part of him that would be drawn to her, right?

I think. I mean, it’s a lot easier when you’re not seeing the person certainly. You can avoid all those things. So yeah, I mean, I guess the hypothetical of what if he did have to see her and stood there face-to-face, does it all still hold up or does that bring doubt and questions into his mind? I don’t know.

Sergei Bachlakov/CBS

Bode was willing to go back to prison to make things right with Danny, which is all because of who he’s become because of his time at Three Rock and being forgiven by his friends, family, and himself. But how much had he truly thought about how that would’ve affected his life had Danny not changed his mind?

Yeah, I think Bode’s always been somebody that does things and then asks questions later and thinks about the repercussions. He’s an impulsive guy, but I think in this situation, Bode is really trying to mature and take accountability for his actions. I think he feels like —the new Bode feels like he doesn’t just owe it to Danny. I think it’s very much almost like an AA sort of thing. It’s like part of the process and the steps that you go through are making amends. And I think this is certainly one of those that shows up on his door and punches him right in the face and he’s like, “The man I am today is the man that is going to face this head on and deal with the repercussions.”

But could he have held onto the new Bode if he had ended up back in prison?

Look, I think there’ll always be, even though Bode has come a long ways, a piece of him that was changed from going to prison. And I think that’s a side that he’s put away, but I don’t think — just like the feelings that he had or has for Gabriela, I think it’s something that never completely goes away. I think you put him back in that place and I think he might be a different version than what we saw in Season 2 in the beginning, but I guess a more matured inmate, but I think you’re still going to see a guy who’s willing to fight for what he believes and is going to stand his ground, isn’t going to go in there and just take a beating.

Talk about having that moment of Bode giving Jake Vince’s ring. Did it feel needed after that bit of clashing earlier the season around his death?

No. Honestly, I was super happy that we paid off that moment. That was something —I’m a big advocate for when we’re going to … Even the little things should pay off, not just the big storylines, but I believe that the little things when you over time can reincorporate them back in, I feel like they land well. And I think for me, when we did the ring exchange with Sharon, I’d kind of kept wondering, “OK, well, what are we doing? What’s the plan with the ring?”

And so I called our head of our props one day and I said, “Hey. Let’s put the ring on a necklace. I’m going to start wearing it. I’m just going to start wearing it from here on out because I don’t want this ring thing to go away and we need to figure out some way to pay it off because it was a significant moment and a significant story in the show.” And so when it came around to Jake’s wedding and they were breaking the episode, I was very excited to see. And I think one of the days one of our writers was on set and said, “Max, what’s up with the chain?” I was like, “Oh, I’m wearing Vince’s ring.” “Oh.” And so I think they took note and then put it in the episode at the end there. And I was a little giddy when I saw it in there. I was like, “Yes, thank you for paying off this moment.” I’m like, “We set up this ring. I’m so glad that we’re going, no pun intended, full circle here with the ring.” But it was fun to pay off.

And I think that’s the thing, too, is I think that Vince always put everyone else before himself. I think that Bode knows that. Even though he could be salty and tough probably for Bode to live with at times, his dad always cared about everybody else. And I think in that moment, Bode really felt like it’s what his dad would do and that Jake’s relationship in this moment and this wedding and this day is more important than a ring. Vince also saw Jake as another son. And so I think that’s another part of it that was a great sort of emotional payoff as well.

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Despite a bit of tension revolving around Chloe, Bode and Sharon seemed to be in a good place at the end of the season, but how would Bode feel about Sharon and Alexi?

I don’t know. So I keep saying, I’m like, Bode’s not going to like this dude. He’s not going to like this dude coming around. He doesn’t know him, doesn’t want to know him. For me, while Bode has matured, his mom is still his mom and he’s going to be, in my eyes, extremely protective over her, especially because it hasn’t been that long. And so I think Bode’s going to be very defensive, protective, and you’re going to see the reverse of Mama Bear. You’re going to see the Bear Cub kind of … His claws are going to come out a little bit as soon as he figures this thing out. So we’ll see. We’ll see how that pays off.

I think one of my favorite things you’ve done this season is show a different side of Luke (Michael Trucco). We’ve really seen him mature and step up since Vince’s death and it was the way he needed to. What is Bode seeing in his uncle now?

I think strangely, Bode and Luke have always had this mutual understanding because they’ve always been in a way the outcast of their generation and the Leone family. And there’s obviously times where Luke does things that piss Bode off. But I think in general, Bode’s been — while he gets mad, I don’t think he’s necessarily surprised at some of the things Luke does because he spent time in prison around people who are always running game, are always conning people. And so I think Bode can see through it a lot, but yeah, certainly they’ve really sort of clung to each other in the loss of Vince. And aside from Nono [Bode’s grandfather, Jeff Fahey‘s Walter], Luke is really that, not that father figure, but that older male now that he’s going to want to turn to.

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