‘Fire Country’ Boss Talks Casting Manny’s Brother, ‘Shocking Turns’ for Sharon & More 

The good news: Fire Country doesn’t take long to let us know Jake’s (Jordan Calloway) fate after the Season 5 premiere cliffhanger. But that incident at 42 is far from the last time the firefighters are shot at and bullets aren’t the only major concern. Plus, CJ (Olivia Thirlby) opens up to Bode (Max Thieriot) about why she’s running from firefighting. TV Insider spoke with Thirlby and executive producer Eric Guggenheim about that and more. Warning: Spoilers for Fire Country Season 5 Episode 2 ahead!

As 42 discovers, with help from Mickey (Morena Baccarin) and Hank (Ian Quinlan) from Sheriff Country, the shooter blames 42 for his mom’s house burning down as a result of the overwhelming calls lately. Jake’s fine, though he is traumatized and deals with that when the firefighters come under fire again. Fortunately, CJ is there to help him through it. Oh, and if those gunshots aren’t enough, it’s Manny’s (Kevin Alejandro) nephew Angel (Ethan Jones Romero) who ends up in the most danger, not from the bullets but from the bees (he’s allergic!) he stumbles into as a result of Three Rock having to take cover.

Manny rushes to his side to save him. As he later tells Camille (Natalie Zea), his brother was once his hero, but he went from teaching him to swim to a ruthless killer doing life — and he thinks if he hadn’t left his family behind, he’d be one, too. But it seems like his brother is going to come back into his life, considering Angel takes a call from his dad in the final scene…

Meanwhile, after working with 42 during the episode, CJ tells Bode what happened: When she was set to testify against the corruption of her firehouse, her chief sent her into a stairwell, knowing the building had serious violations on a call. He wanted to make it look like she died in the line of duty. She saved herself, but it messed with her head, and she vowed never to be on the job again. Edgewater and Bode have changed that, and she says yes to his request to help him launch the volunteer fire department.

Below, in separate interviews, Olivia Thirlby and executive producer Eric Guggenheim break down the second episode and tease what’s ahead.

That Manny and Camille conversation and the ending with Angel very much feel like they’re setting up the introduction of his brother. 

Eric Guggenheim: We are!

What can you say about that, casting, and just what this arc means in general for Manny and how much more we’ll hear about his past/his brother?

Guggenheim: We’ll meet Ricardo a little later in the season. I can’t announce the casting yet but we got the actor we wanted when we were doing our “wouldn’t it be amazing if we could get someone like” dream casting in the writers’ room. It was the same thing with Olivia playing CJ. “You know who would be perfect for this? Olivia Thirlby.” And fortunately, for us, she was really into the character and said “yes.”

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It wasn’t CJ’s past coming to cause trouble in Edgewater, but it feels like that happening remains a concern. Will that be an arc this season, or will her story be more about her learning to be part of a firehouse again and trust those around her? 

Guggenheim: Yes. Like she says to Bode, “I’m damaged goods.” She understandably has some PTSD that she covers with humor and sarcasm. But she’s in pain, which Bode recognizes. Game recognizes game and pain recognizes pain. CJ trying to move past that pain is the journey she’ll be on this season. But it won’t be easy. There will be setbacks. It’s a great story, and CJ and Bode’s relationship is incredibly moving.

The gunshots at the end of the premiere ended up not being tied to her, but she’s still worried that that part of her past could follow her to Edgewater, right? Is she ever going to be able to let that concern go? Especially as if she’s building a new community, she’s going to be worried about losing it, right?

Olivia Thirlby: Yeah. And I do think that her trust issues are going to surface again throughout the course of the season. I think that even though she is beginning to trust again and she’s wanting to trust again, she’s still on guard for anything that might go wrong. Any dishonesty in the field is incredibly triggering for her. So that is something that we will continue to see her navigate this season.

CJ opens up to Bode. What is it about him that she feels like she can do it at this point? Is it what she’s seen so far that it feels like she can trust him?

Thirlby: I think so, yes. I think it’s a mixture of things. I think that CJ really does need someone to talk to, and I also don’t think it’s a coincidence that she finds a safe place in Bode. There’s something that she sees about his past, but also his present, and how he shows up in his community with his family, that she trusts despite herself. I think that she feels very drawn to him, and she just decides to open up to him, and partially because she needs to talk about it. And the other part of it is because in him, she has actually found a friend and somebody that can hold the truth and the gravity of her past without judging her or needing to fix her.

It’s also like she’s not just getting a look at Bode, though; she’s going to look at 42, she’s getting a look at this town, and it’s different than what she knew. So is it telling her, you know what, they’re all good people? And I think Edgewater is the place she really needed to be at this point for that.

Thirlby: Absolutely. I mean, she’s a city girl. She doesn’t have a lot of experience living in a town where everybody grew up together and knows each other’s families and where there’s deep nested history. So I think for her, it’s actually quite surprising to see that there is something really beautiful about being a part of a community like that.

They’re all welcoming, too. They’re all welcoming her into this family of theirs, essentially. And we’re even seeing that she’s giving back to Jake. She has that nice moment where she’s able to help him in the middle of the fight because of her experience.

Thirlby: Exactly, exactly. I mean, I kind of feel like CJ, despite herself, she has a lot of walls up, I think around her heart, and a lot of trust issues. And I think despite herself, she is sensing that there may be a way that she could belong again.

Sergei Bachlakov/CBS

Sharon talks to Mickey about her guilt. How much of Sharon’s arc is about her figuring out she can’t put the whole town on her shoulders and finding someone to lean on versus something else? 

Guggenheim: It’s pretty much her arc for the season. But there will be some shocking turns along the way.

And is Alexi still part of her life?

Guggenheim: We wanted to get Alexi back as we’re all big fans of Brett Tucker, but so far the scheduling gods haven’t cooperated. We’re getting Alona Tal back. And of course Natalie Zea, who we’ll see again after 502.

What is it about this volunteer fire department that’s appealing to CJ?

Thirlby: I think that CJ is really happy when she’s at work, and even though it is something that she’s running from and trying to create distance with, she can’t deny the fact that she’s really happy in the community, in the station, and sharing with people her skills and her passion and her confidence in her field. And so I think that she’s really drawn to just — it’s almost like it’s a cheat day. It’s almost like she’s on a diet from firefighting, but it’s still her favorite food. And so she arrives in a place where someone’s like, “Hey, why don’t you sit down, have this beautiful meal?” No pressure, no expectations, but it’s an invitation that she can’t refuse. And also because she has opened up to Bode and she trusts him, and I think there’s a part of her that just organically wants to show up for others the way they show up for her.

Also, I feel like for the voluntary fire department, it’s more about the love of firefighting, which I think is maybe what she needs is to be around people who are there for that reason.

Thirlby: That is a really astute observation, yes. People who are in it for the right reasons.

But she does say that she’s leaving as soon as her car is fixed. Since you’re a series regular, and cars don’t take that long to be fixed, what can you say about how often that might come up where she keeps bringing up, like, “Oh, I’m not staying forever. Am I going to be leaving”? Or is she going to soon accept, “You know what? Maybe this is the place that I need to stay, make a home.”

Thirlby: What I will say is that she commits to her story that she’s leaving soon, and she milks it for as long as she possibly can. [Laughs]

What can you say about any type of personal life, or is she kind of closing off to that for now?

Thirlby: CJ’s pretty spicy, and she definitely finds her way into some interesting situations.

Fire Country, Fridays, 9/8c, CBS