It’s finally happening! Talks about Fire Country expanding have been happening for over two years, and now, we’re finally getting a spinoff. Sheriff Country will premiere on the 2025 TV schedule this fall, and Morena Baccarin will lead the series all about Edgewater’s law enforcement. However, while the spinoff feels like a natural expansion, it wasn’t an easy choice for the actress when it came to saying yes to the show, and she explained why.
This whole conversation began when Morena Baccarin told Michael Rosenbaum on Inside of You that she was about to go film 20 episodes of Sheriff Country. That led to the host, who is no stranger to network TV, asking if saying yes to the project was a “tough decision.” In response, the actress said:
Big time tough.
Without reasoning, I totally get it. A 20-episode season of television is no small feat, and saying yes to a network TV series is a big choice, because you could wind up working on it for a very long time. That, and one other big reason, are why this wasn’t an easy choice for Baccarin, as the actress explained:
So, originally, it was going to shoot in Vancouver, because that’s where Fire Country shoots, and obviously, that would be a lot easier for the production Bruckheimer TV is producing. And I had a very honest and frank conversation.
Before diving into what that conversation entailed, the Deadpool actress explained that she loved Sheriff Country’s premise. She was a big fan of the complex family storyline involving her daughter in rehab and her father, who sells illegal weed. So, that kind of dramatic story was right up the actress’s alley.
However, filming in Vancouver when her family was on the other side of the continent in New York was not OK, as she explained:
It’s a great drama, and I loved it, and I said to them, ‘This is a no-brainer for me, but I cannot shoot it in Vancouver. There’s no way that my family survives with three kids in New York City that this could work.’ So they went back and they discussed it amongst themselves, and I was shocked because – you know how these negotiations go – they agreed to move it to the East Coast, to have it set somewhere on the East Coast.
This makes perfect sense. Morena Baccarin is married to her Gotham co-star Ben McKenzie, and they are raising three kids. She has an 11-year-old whom she shares with her ex-husband, and she and McKenzie have two kids who are 9 and 4. Moving them, especially at such a formative and developmental time, would be hard. So, I get why she didn’t want to. However, that’s no longer a concern, because Sheriff Country moved its production.
To that point, the actress and Rosenbaum talked about how the flight from New York to Toronto is under two hours, and she will spend her weekends with her family and the weeks filming. She couldn’t believe they agreed to that either. Now, Baccarin is “cautiously optimistic” about it all, explaining:
I really truly love the people that I’m working with who are creating the show. Bruckheimer TV has been incredible in the process, and it’s just been smooth sailing. And I haven’t done network TV in a while, because I just hate that machine, and the 20-episode thing is really tough on everybody. But I’m cautiously optimistic. I’m excited about the series, and I think being in Toronto, I’ll come home every weekend. It’ll be tough on the family, but you know, we have summer coming up where the kids can be up there, and we’ll figure it out.
I’m sure they will figure it out, and it seems like they have already been thinking about this in a nuanced and thoughtful way that looks out for Baccarin and her whole family.
So, with that all situated and with the actress fully on board and leading Sheriff Country, I can’t wait for it to appear in CBS’s 2025-2026 lineup. It’s been a long time coming. Mickey was introduced on Fire Country back in Season 2, and we’ve been waiting for her show for a couple of years now.
Overall, Morena Baccarin and co. have clearly put a lot of thought into this. And if she’s willing to say yes, and they’re willing to move the production for her, it’ll likely be well worth their time and ours. So, make sure to tune into Sheriff Country starting Friday, October 17 at 8 p.m. on CBS.
