Jelly Roll‘s TV acting debut on Fire Country isn’t just a one-off — not if the hit CBS series has anything to say about it.
During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, creator Tony Phelan confirmed that Jelly Roll’s character Noah could return in the future.
“[Featuring] music on the show has been great and I think has really happened organically. People in Nashville have been reaching out to us because they’re fans of the show. Nine times out of 10, they don’t say, ‘I want to get my music on the show.’ They’re like, ‘I want to be on the show,’” Phelan noted. “That is what made the Jelly Roll [cameo] so great.”
Phelan praised Jelly Roll, 40, for doing “such an amazing job” in season 3.
“We’re in the writers’ room talking about a way to bring that character back — just because he was such a great presence,” he confirmed. “Music is a huge part of the world of both Fire Country and Sheriff Country. To have artists approach us and say ‘Just find a way for me to be a part of it’ has been thrilling. So we’re talking to other people but I think I want to keep those as surprises.”
CBS fans were in for a fun surprise when Jelly Roll made an appearance on Fire Country in April, where he was introduced as healthcare worker and former convict Noah. His song “Dreams Don’t Die” was also played during the episode, which marked the musician’s first scripted role after he previously made a cameo as himself on Paramount+’s Tulsa King.
Star — and executive producer — Max Thieriot later told Us that he “reached out first” to Jelly Roll after crossing paths at the CMT Music Awards.
“He was finishing drying his hands with a towel in the bathroom at the CMTs [in April 2024]. I ran into him in the bathroom straight up at the CMT Music Awards,” he recalled at the time. “I said, ‘Thank you for letting us have some of your songs on the show.’ And he’s like, ‘Dude, how do I get on the show? I’ve been petitioning online and talking to my people and you got to get me on that show.’ He said Fire Country is what he really represents. … He called me the next day and it showed how sincere he was.”
Thieriot, 36, credited Jelly Roll for being so collaborative. “We worked on coming up with a character [for him] that we all thought would be interesting, unique and special and still. It tells some of the story about second chances and what he really represents,” he noted to Us. “But [it] also feels different from who he is and how people see him day to day as a country singer.”
He concluded: “I don’t know [if we will have more country singers]. I have to wait for the next awards show and I’m just going to set up a chair in the bathroom to start greeting them as they come in. But there’s a few that we’ve been talking with for a while now. Honestly, it would be fun to maybe see both [Kane and Jelly Roll] bring their characters back in some form.”
One month later, Tracker executive producer Elwood Reid revealed that they tried to get the country music star on their show first.
“Maybe it goes more toward the CBS audience but we’ve been trying to get someone from the country music scene to come to the show,” Reid shared with Us in May. “We tried to get Jelly Roll and I think we lost him to Fire Country.”
Tracker is still hoping to get someone from the country music scene.
“We’ve tried some other people. Luke Combs is a guy we’ve always been trying to get,” Reid, 58, added. “Or a guy like Hardy. It is just about trying to figure out a fun role to write for them and then bring them into the show in a natural way.”
Fire Country returns to CBS on Friday, October 17, at 8 p.m. ET before taking its regular time slot on Friday, October 24, at 9 p.m. ET. New episodes will be streaming the next day on Paramount+.
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