The season 4 trailer for Fire Country revealed that in addition to Stephanie Arcila’s shocking exit, the CBS series killed off Billy Burke’s Vince — and is bringing in Shawn Hatosy in a mystery role.
In the sneak peek, which was released on Tuesday, September 23, Cal Fire is seen mourning Vince after he died in the fire that put his, Sharon (Diane Farr) and Walter’s (Jeff Fahey) lives at risk. There was also a glimpse of Hatosy, 49, playing a firefighter, although details on his character have yet to be announced.
Ahead of season 4, Fire Country has gone through several casting shakeups with reports from earlier this year claiming that budget cuts led to Burke, 58, and Arcila’s upcoming exits. (Burke has yet to address his departure.)
Creators Tony Phelan and Joan Rater spoke exclusively to Us Weekly about the most burning questions related to season 4 — including the decision to kill off Vince, whether Arcila’s exit as Gabriela is permanent, what Hatosy’s casting means for the future of Fire Country and more:
Why Kill Off Vince?
According to Phelan, there was “a real desire” to “not only shake things up” but also “to be true to” the reality of writing a show about firefighters in the line of duty.
“They are encountering danger so frequently that we felt like to really be true to their experience, that kind of loss is a part of the job,” Phelan noted. “Because all of season 3 had been about legacy — Vince dealing with his father and his father’s legacy and what legacy he would pass on to Bode (Max Thieriot) — it felt like a story decision that made sense.”
Rater, meanwhile, teased how the “huge loss” would affect everyone in season 4.
“It’s big and we’re dealing with it. This season feels like it’s about our younger firefighters growing up,” she teased. “So the idea of what happens to Station 42 is really integral to them growing up. Who is going to take over? Are we ready? Can we do this?”
The Fire Country writers wanted to be “really respectful of how huge the loss of Vince” is to everyone on the show. “It will take several episodes for our characters to get through that,” he added while Rater noted, “But then there’s going to be some huge surprises about what happened and the fire that will lead us into some cool storytelling areas this season.”
Is Gabriela Ever Coming Back?
“For Gabriela, it was very difficult in the second half of the season for her to be around and see Bode. They just haven’t been able to make that connection,” Phelan explained about Gabriela leaving the show for now. “To give those two characters a pause — a break from that dynamic — and if and when they come back together again, they will be different people.”
Rater agreed that it was for the best, adding, “This is the season about letting our people grow up. Growing up isn’t easy and the difficult part about Bode and Gabriela is they realize they need to grow up and they can’t do it together right now.”
Will There Be More Deaths to Worry About in Season 4?
Coming off a multitude of surprising fictional firefighter deaths and show exits earlier this year, Phelan teased how that will — or won’t — factor into season 4.
“We wanted to shake up the cast and the storytelling and just have different pairings of people. The show does settle down,” he noted to Us. “But certainly the stakes of what our people are going through do not decrease.”
How Long Is Shawn Hatosy Sticking Around?
Hatosy is once again playing a firefighter following his exit from Chicago P.D. The actor, however, is also booked and busy with season 2 of The Pitt.
“We were so lucky to get him. We’ve created this role of somebody who comes in after this huge fire and Station 42 got burned down [metaphorically] with the death of Vince. How do we move forward? Is this the house of Leone? Who takes over? Who is in charge? Did we make mistakes? All of these questions,” Rater teased to Us. “We created this character who — literally his job is to come into stations that are struggling and to diagnose what the problem is and to figure out how they can move forward.”
She continued: “He’s our guy and he has a real formidable presence. He doesn’t back down from conflict with Bode or Sharon. We needed a formidable presence because our characters are strong, and Vince was a strong guy. We wanted to create somebody to come in and sort of read the room.”
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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