The huge success of CBS’s Fire Country has ignited a spinoff, Sheriff Country, starring Morena Baccarin as Sheriff Mickey Fox, aunt to Bode Leone, played by Max Thieriot, executive producer and co-creator of both programs.

TV Insider caught up with Baccarin on the CBS Fest 2025 blue carpet (yes, blue) on the Paramount Studios lot last week to chat about the new show, set to debut this fall on the eye network. “I would say [Sheriff Country] is darker, a little more raw, a little edgier,” says Baccarin when asked to differentiate between the two programs. “We’re dealing with some illegal activity.”

As viewers of Fire Country have seen, that illegal activity involves Mickey’s dad, Wes (W. Earl Brown), running an illegal weed business. Can Wes continue to grow his pot business and manage to also have a healthy relationship with his daughter?

“I think that’s pretty much a dealbreaker,” Baccarin tells TV Insider. “That’s what hasn’t been working. I mean, I am the sheriff, so to have a relationship with a grower…” But what about, you know,  family? “It is family,” she concedes, hastening to add, “but [it’s] tricky when that’s your job, you know what I mean?”

While there’s always the chance for making peace with her dad, Mickey’s not going to get there overnight. For now, she’s pretty clear on where she needs to stand. “It would be really hard to have people take you seriously if you make an exception for your dad,” Baccarin says. “Mickey is definitive about that.”

We’ve seen Sheriff Fox’s world through Fire Country, but that universe is going to be explored to a greater level when Sheriff Country debuts in September. “I’m looking forward to opening up the world of Edgewater and diving into the crime part of the town,” Baccarin previews.

In addition to Mickey’s conflict with her father, there are going to be numerous other dynamics for her to explore. “I’m really interested in the relationships she has with the other people in town,” Baccarin muses. “She grew up with them. She knows exactly who they are, but now she’s on the other side of the law from a lot of the people she grew up with. And a lot of them are going to get into trouble, and she’s going to have to use compassion and her knowledge of who they are to sometimes get them to obey or stand down.”

There are pros to policing some of the people you’ve spent much of your life with, but there are disadvantages, too. “The pros are that when you roll up to a scene that’s a heated argument between two people that you’ve gone to high school with, you can say, ‘Hey, remember that time your girlfriend dumped you? Whose shoulder did you cry on? That guy right there that you’re fighting with,’” points out Baccarin.

Breaking up spats that haven’t gotten too far out of control with some old school pals is something where Mickey can use her discretion. However, having to possibly bring her own dad to justice falls into the “con” category. “It’s very clear [where Mickey stands] because her father is growing illegal weed and that is a big no-no because he’s growing it on a large scale,” Baccarin emphasizes. “He’s not just stealing here and there.”

Handling cases that cut close to home will be the most challenging part of keeping the peace on Sheriff Country. “These situations pose really great moral dilemmas for [Mickey],” Baccarin adds. “I think that’s really the crux of the show.”

Might we see crossovers between Sheriff Country and Fire Country (à la Chicago Fire/Med/P.D., Law & Order shows, and the way Grey’s Anatomy did with Station 19), especially as the two Country series will be airing back-to-back on Friday nights this fall?

“For sure,” predicts Baccarin.

Sheriff Country, Series Premiere, Fall 2025, Fridays, 9/8c, CBS