‘Fire Country’: Showrunner Tia Napolitano On When Fans Will See A Resolution Between Diego & Gabriela
SPOILER ALERT! This story contains plot points from Friday’s season 3 premiere of Fire Country on CBS.
In the episode titled “What the Bride Said,” catastrophe wreaked havoc on the Diego and Gabriela nuptials, but it wasn’t because of anything Bode did after we last saw him leave the church in the season 2 finale.
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Instead, a helicopter crashed through the stained glass window and cast a pall on the ceremony, prompting everyone in attendance to spring into action and help the victims. Here, showrunner Tia Napolitano addresses why she decided to delay the will-they-or-won’t-they drama and what we can expect from part 2 of what we’re unofficially dubbing Copter-nado.
DEADLINE How many different scenarios did you have for the wedding?
TIA NAPOLITANO We talked about a lot of stuff. We really looked at what viewers are familiar with in terms of weddings that didn’t end up happening. We wanted to make sure ours was a lot different. We kicked around a bunch of ideas in the room. And then one of my writers said, ‘well, you want to crash a helicopter into that wedding, right? Bring the action to the soap.’ And I said, yeah, that’s what we’re going to do.
DEADLINE You were definitely suspending some disbelief there by having Gabriela [Stephanie Arcila] save lives in a wedding dress. Did Stephanie ever get to the point where she was saying, hey this is silly?
NAPOLITANO She was game. She loved it. And really, they’re not on duty. They’re citizens helping until the on-duty firefighters get there. So it’s not like her choice was to stop helping and to go get different clothes. She just continued to help and said ‘screw the dress.’
DEADLINE What’s at the root of Manny [Kevin Alejandro] not wanting his daughter to end up with Bode?
NAPOLITANO Manny loves his daughter and he roots for her. He loves Bode and he roots for him, too. But that dynamic, to him, seems reminiscent of him and Roberta, which was not a fully healthy relationship. He fears that Bode and Gabriela are drawn to each other for the things they bring out in each other … breaking the rules. They’re a little bit co-dependent or always pushing the envelope in a bad way.
DEADLINE Why the two-parter?
NAPOLITANO Honestly, the crew built these beautiful sets. We had that whole forest and the helicopter and all this work went into it. It was so visually spectacular, we wanted to stay in that world longer and just milk it for everything we could.
DEADLINE Will Gabriela give Diego [Rafael de la Fuente] an answer in the next episode?
NAPOLITANO We will get Gabriela’s answer for sure.
DEADLINE You had Rick [Adam Aalderks] figure out pretty quickly that Genevieve [Alix West Lefler] could be his daughter. Why?
NAPOLITANO We know, we played around so much last season with paternity. We really lived in the unknown for so long. So this season, we wanted to deliver the information, the red meat, and really digest what consequences come from that information.
DEADLINE Max Thieriot told us this week that the new season is about legacy. Can you expand on that?
NAPOLITANO We heard Bode say it in the finale last season. He’s ready to claim his legacy as a firefighter and as a Leone. We really want to dive into what that means. The Leones are a multi-generation firefighting family. We’ve talked about parental scars passed down from Papa Leone to Vince [Billy Burke] and potentially to Bode. What does it look like to really lock into that family history, to really engage with where he came from? When we met Bode, he was a man who didn’t want to come home, and now he’s saying, I’m home and I’m going to dig my heels in, career wise and family wise. We’ll also get into some other families on the show. We’ll learn a little bit more about Eve [Jules Latimer] and where she comes from. And you’re going to see a lot of new characters. We’ve already announced we’re going to meet a new character named Audrey [Levin Ramblin]. And obviously, Jared Padalecki is joining us for a little bit to play Captain Casey. We’ve got a fun guest cast this season.
DEADLINE Padalecki could result in a potential spinoff. What do you like so far about what he’s bringing?
NAPOLITANO Oh, I love the character. Jared himself is wonderful. We wrote Captain Casey with him in mind, and we were lucky enough that he took the role. He’s just great with Max on screen. They have amazing friend chemistry. And Jared has a little bit of fun. You know, Casey has sass, and he encourages the adventurous side of Bode, the side of Bode that goes rogue. He encourages the side of Bode that maybe wants to break a rule now and then.
DEADLINE Will you have to do any more lifting to help get ready for the spinoff of Sheriff Country?
NAPOLITANO That writers room opened last week. They’ve got their own writers and their own showrunner, and they’re doing great. We know a lot of friends over there. We had a big mixer. There will be a lot of collaborating. We’ve got grids to make sure we’re working together. We’re in the same universe, we’re in the same town. We’re going to be sending a lot of carrier pigeons back and forth to make sure we’re telling a cohesive story.
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