'Fire Country' Boss Reveals Who Almost Died in Season 4 Premiere, Plus What's Next
There’s a new boss at Station 42 on Fire Country Season 4, following its battalion chief, Vince Leone (Billy Burke), dying in a fire, and he’s planning to make some changes. To say Vince’s widow, Sharon (Diane Farr), isn’t happy is an understatement.
The premiere also says goodbye to Gabriela (Stephanie Arcila), who leaves Edgewater to recruit young firefighters for Cal Fire. That leaves Bode (Max Thieriot) without a major support system after his ex-girlfriend was really there for him following his father’s death. Below, executive producer Tia Napolitano reveals if any other deaths or exits for Gabriela were considered, how Bode and Sharon are doing going forward, what’s next for Jake (Jordan Calloway), Eve (Jules Latimer), and others, and much more. (Plus, read what Max Thieriot had to say about the premiere and what’s ahead for Bode
Did you consider killing off anyone else in the fire in addition to Vince?
Tia Napolitano: We considered every possibility of how to shake things up in Season 4. I think for a long time, it might’ve been Walter [Jeff Fahey], and it felt like that was the expected outcome, and we really wanted the most surprising version.
But you never considered two people dying?
Maybe? Yes, we did.
Sergei Bachlakov/CBS
When you were looking at who would take over as battalion chief, did you immediately want someone like Brett, someone coming in as an antagonist Sharon is very against, someone there to reinvent 42?
It was a long road for a long time. We thought about Jake getting it and the emotional ramifications of how he would feel guilty that this was the way that he got it and then it seemed like bringing in an antagonist felt like it gave us so much more story. We were lucky enough to get Shawn Hatosy. It really shook things up and made things feel different and fresh this season.
Can you say how much Shawn Hatosy is in the season?
You’ll see him a lot. He will recur. We will learn a lot about him. We’ll go on a little journey where we figure out what makes him a human because we all are inside, but he gives our characters hell, and you never know when he might walk back in the door.
How is 42 going to react to not only someone new coming in, but someone new coming in who wants to change part of what’s left of Vince and his legacy of how he ran 42?
Not well. Obviously, Vince made 42 a family and we loved him. Nobody really took issue with the way that he was a battalion chief, and I think Richards looks around and says, well, the way that this place has run a firefighter lost his life. Is that the best way to run things? If that’s the outcome, it’s a question. It’s not a thesis statement, but he’s going to examine all the angles.
What does 42 look like going forward? How is it changing?
Brett Richards will really hold a mirror up to 42 and ask, are these the best practices? Is the way that this is run, where everybody kind of knows each other, is in bed with each other, has a familiar relationship, is that the safest way to run a station? I think some of our people might tend to agree over time, and other people really cling to the way that things were. I mean, even their coffee is called Leone mud. Vince is in every molecule of that building. So any change feels really monumental and is really resisted by some of our people and eventually embraced by some others, and we have to grow with him.
How much will Sharon and Bode especially clash with him?
Sharon and Bode will clash with him. He really challenges the Leone way, for lack of a better term. He really challenges the culture of the place, and Sharon and Bode won’t always see eye to eye when it comes to Richards as well. Because Richard is here, there’s conflict among our people. It quickly evolves out of being just him against us, and people start to see his way to varying degrees.
Brock Boeser shootout goal pushes Canucks past Blackhawks
Brock Boeser scored the shootout winning goal to give the visiting Vancouver Canucks a 3-2 comeback victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday.
Jake DeBrusk and Max Sasson scored in regulation time for Vancouver, which has won the first two outings of a five-game road trip and erased 2-0 deficits in both of them.
Goaltender Kevin Lankinen made 31 saves through overtime in a strong outing. He also stopped all four Chicago skaters in the shootout.
Ryan Donato and Tyler Bertuzzi scored early for the Blackhawks, who saw their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Goalie Spencer Knight stopped 30 shots before the shootout.
Boeser was the only player to score in the four-round shootout, coming through with the game-winner by whipping a shot just inside the glove-side post from the slot to give his club the victory.
The Canucks have won 11 consecutive games against Chicago.
Despite the defeat, Chicago has earned points in three consecutive outings.
The Blackhawks earned their two-goal lead with a strong start from the drop of the puck. They were rewarded at 12:41 of the opening period when Donato was set up by Andre Burakovsky for a tap-in tally while on the power play.
Bertuzzi doubled the lead by driving to the net and pouncing on a rebound with 46 seconds remaining in the frame.
The Canucks clawed back with a two-goal second period, despite managing only four shots on goal during it. DeBrusk, on his 29th birthday, put them on the board at 6:49 of the period by whacking home a loose puck from the edge of the crease for the power-play goal.
Sasson tied the clash with his second goal in as many nights, redirecting the puck into an open net thanks to a slick pass from Filip Hronek at the 13:42 mark.
