The CBS drama Fire Country is turning up the heat with plans for a spinoff starring Morena Baccarin (Deadpool, Homeland, Greenland). Reports say Baccarin plays a sheriff in a Season 2 episode with the option to become a series regular in the simmering spinoff series. Deadline was the first to report the news, saying CBS Studios would produce the potential spinoff.

Baccarin’s sheriff character is named Mickey. She’s been a sheriff’s deputy for fifteen years and spent much of her tenure studying the landscape and populace of Edgewater. With a tremendous amount of hometown pride flowing like fire through her veins, Mickey does whatever it takes to keep the citizens of Edgewater free from harm.

Deadline says negotiations for the series began before the holiday rush, with Baccarin as the top runner to lead the proposed spinoff. The upcoming episode introducing Mickey acts as a backdoor pilot for the character, with more development ahead for the spinoff. Fire Country is a tremendous hit for CBS, becoming the most-watched new broadcast for the network. Last season, Fire Country stoked the flames with an average of 8 million viewers per episode and 10 million in live+35 multi-platform viewing.

“We are focused on mass-appeal franchises,” CBS President and CEO George Cheeks said. “This season’s number one show was Fire Country, which completely lends itself to building out a whole new universe… It became very clear that not only was the show special, it really felt like this could be a great example of us building together a franchise from scratch. And so I’m like, ‘you guys, congratulations, you got your back nine. Now let’s start talking about ideas for new extensions.’ They’ve already come up with some great ones.”

In Fire Country, a young convict named Bode Donovan (Max Thieriot), who is seeking redemption, joins a firefighting program to shorten his prison sentence. He and other inmates work alongside elite firefighters to extinguish massive regional blazes.

In addition to Thieriot, Fire Country stars Billy Burke (Twilight, Red Riding Hood), Kevin Alejandro (Arrow, True Blood), Diane Farr (Californication, Rescue Me), Stephanie Arcila (Don’t Breathe 2, Penny Dreadful: City of Angels), Jordan Calloway (Black Lightning, Riverdale), and Jules Latimer (Rustin, Guilty Party).

Are you excited about Morena Baccarin joining the Fire Country cast? Do you like the show? Will you tune in for the spinoff if it happens? Let us know in the comments below.

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