“Fire Country” boss on Bode-Genevieve reveal and upcoming fight for Three Rock

“Fire Country” answers one of the season’s biggest questions.

Warning: This article contains spoilers from Fire Country season 2, episode 6, “Alert the Sheriff”.

In its latest episode, Fire Country answered one of the biggest questions of the season: it turns out that Bode Donovan (Max Thieriot) isn’t Genevieve’s (Alix West Lefler) father, despite believing he was since the season 2 premiere.

But six episodes later, in “Alert the Sheriff,” Sharon (Diane Farr) and Vince (Billy Burke) convince the preteen to tell Bode the truth about her paternity. Meanwhile, Sharon’s sister Mickey (Morena Baccarin) comes to town to investigate an escaped Three Rock inmate… and the episode ends on an intense note when the sheriff is murdered and a petition is circulated about closing Three Rock.

Below, EW talks to Fire Country showrunner Tia Napolitano about Genevieve’s parentage, Sharon and Mickey’s sisterhood, and the upcoming fight to save Three Rock.

Sergei Bachlakov/CBS Max Thieriot on ‘Fire Country’

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Why did you all decide that Bode would not be Gen’s dad?

TIA NAPOLITANO: Bode is so comfortable doing things for other people and doing the right things for other people. We introduced this paternity idea as an interesting way for him to get closer to Cara, so Cara was woven more into our world, and to explore the idea of a Bode as a dad, which is a really dreamy idea. We became very interested in, what does Bode go after when this paternity goes away?

It’s an open question mark of, how much growth has he achieved since we first met him? Is he able to be his own cheerleader?

We see Jake is struggling with Cara’s death, and Vince seems to help him a bit. Can you tease what’s next for him and him and Genevieve?

We’re going to spend a lot of time with Bode sorting through what this means for him and also a lot of time with Jake. The love of his life, who was going to be his wife, died, and her child has gone through so much loss. In what ways will he step up to make sure that [Genevieve] is taken care of, and in what ways will Bode still be there? We’re building a new sort of family for her that kind of bends and breaks as she grows.

What did you want to explore about Sharon’s backstory through Mickey’s introduction?

We know so much about the Leone boys and they’re this legacy family. We wanted to dig into Sharon’s backstory and figure out what makes Sharon so strong and great. What kind of family did she come from? It’s riveting. Every little piece of her backstory lets us get to know her more and that she has this sister. They’re both first responders and they’re finding their way back into each other’s lives again after some time apart. It felt compelling and a new wrinkle into the fabric of our family.

Morena and Diane were just incredible as sisters in this episode.

They feel like real sisters. It is a sign of the health of their relationship that they are able to fight. Mickey is able to be a little bit mean when she gets mad and she’s working… Sharon can call her out on it. There’s a real relationship there.

Sergei Bachlakov/CBS Morena Baccarin and Diane Farr on ‘Fire Country.’

We learn about Mickey’s daughter Skye being in rehab. Will we see more of Mickey and her family on Fire Country?

The idea was to open that door into Sharon’s family and make it clear that they are in our world. You can expect to see them now and then.

The Department of Corrections is sticking around and there’s a petition to close Three Rock. How much of an obstacle is this going to be?

It’s a huge obstacle. Bode’s fate and mission really becomes intertwined with the fate of Three Rock. Three Rock has meant so much to many of our characters. We’ve seen it do so much good and we’re really going to explore public perception and this is a real threat to the fate and future of Three Rock. Our people are going to have to fight.

After the Sheriff is murdered, people go, “Oh, what’s happening over there?” Even though we say in the episode, “the truth will out,” it taps into people’s unconscious bias about the fire camp’s existence and their preconceived notions.

Eve and Manny have not been on the same page. How is working on improving Three Rock’s image going to go for them?

Putting Three Rock in jeopardy was designed as a way to bring Eve and Manny together towards a common enemy, because nothing unites two people more than fighting for something they both believe in against misconceptions from the outside. They are really joined together in a great way and bring out the best in each other in this fight.

This episode is the latest test of Eve in her new role when she has to do a press conference about the inmate escape. What did you want to explore moving her into this new space and what’s coming up for her?

We’re a little over midway through our 10-episode season and this was designed as a climb for Eve. It’s a challenge to show that it isn’t easy to be a female captain on a male inmate crew. These press conferences and these outward facing things is another aspect of the job that we never really saw, but that was always there.

Sergei Bachlakov/CBS Kevin Alejandro and Jules Latimer on ‘Fire Country.’

What can you tease about what happens next week?

We are fighting for the life of Three rock, which is the bedrock of this show. Are people going to join the fight or not? What’s Bode’s role in this?

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Fire Country airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.

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