‘Fire Country’: Max Thieriot on Bode Adapting to ‘Life Outside’ in the Midst of Training and ‘Messy’ Relationship with Gabriela (Exclusive)

Spoilers ahead for Season 3, Episode 5 (“Edgewater’s About to Get Real Cozy”).

Tonight’s new Fire Country introduced a new firefighter that could have an impact on Bode moving forward as he continues to figure out his new life beyond prison and Max Thieriot spoke to PopCulture.com about what’s next. With Bode moving on to the next phase in his CalFire training, viewers were introduced to SoCal firefighter and maverick Camden Casey, played by Supernatural alum Jared Padalecki. The episode saw Station 42 and Three Rock jumping into action when an airplane makes an emergency landing just outside of Edgewater.

This already gave Camden a chance to test out his cadets, Bode and Audrey, out in the field, and it was a different approach than Jake, who is “very regimented and structured and organized,” Thieriot said. “It’s all about following protocol and doing things by the book.” Camden, meanwhile, doesn’t mind going off book and even breaking protocol if need be, including putting Bode on top of the plane, and Thieriot thinks it’s the life experiences and fires that he’s had to deal with in his career “that he’s taken a different approach to how he handles things and really sort of is a guy that goes off of feeling and gut and instinct and kind of believes that not every firefighter excels, doing things sort of the one specific way and kind of have to find the sweet spot for each person and find their strengths and find their weaknesses. I think that’s one thing that’s a little bit different about the two of them.”

“I think, also inevitably ends up being some of the conflict between the two as well because while Camden is here to handle Phase 3 of training, he’s also only just met Bode,” Thieriot continued. “And he’s not the captain of the station while he is a fire captain. It kind of feels like this is how many of those people, and he’s protective of them. I think the two of them sort of have to earn each other’s trust. And I think kind of I’m assuming everybody sort of has to really sort of figure out who this guy is that’s kind of come into the world and does things a little differently than they normally do them here.”

“And so that side is gonna be really fun to sort of explore throughout this arc and this character and also get to learn some of the backstory and understand a little better why Camden is the way he is and why he does things the way he does,” Max Thieriot said. “Because I think it’s not purely because that’s how he was trained. It’s what he’s learned sort of overtime in the field and things that he dealt with. And so I think that’s a big part of the arc, and it’s gonna be really fun to explore. All of our characters get to learn and understand.”

As Bode continues to adjust to life beyond prison, CalFire training is not all that he’s been doing. It was revealed that he’s looking for a place to live and is planning to move out of his parents’ place. While Vince was on board with it, Sharon was a different story since she still wants to protect her son and keep a watchful eye on him. It was definitely going to come sooner or later as he’s still “adapting to life outside and adjusting to his regular civilian life,” Thieriot shared.

“And I think a big thing is, you know, he’s an adult, and he knows that he needs to kind of spread his wings,” he continued. “But I think, obviously, like Mama Sharon especially, she wants to kind of keep him in the nest and protect him as much as possible. And so it’ll be a lot of fun. It’s gonna be a lot of fun for the audience to see sort of that story unfold and get to see kind of where Bode ends up because I can tell you he won’t be home forever. And so we get to kind of see where he rests his head at night and maybe look at different places. But it’s gonna be fun.”

As if Bode didn’t have enough to deal with because, on top of training and looking for a place to live, the complications just seem never-ending for his relationship with Gabriela. Ever since word got out that Bode was basically the reason Gabriela didn’t say “I do” to Diego, Manny has been giving him the cold shoulder. Additionally, the episode saw Diego’s buddies starting a fight because of what happened. It should be pointed out that Bode and Gabby aren’t exactly together, but do hook up from time to time, but because of what they did and what they have been doing, it’s been, as always, complicated.

“I think that because Diego is no longer really in the picture, it’s kind of a bit of a whirlwind for both of them,” Thieriot explained. “It’s like Bode sort of accepted his reality, which was Gabriela’s reality when she was gonna get married and made the conscious decision to say to himself, ‘I’m gonna have to let her go. I have to move on.’ And now that that didn’t happen, I think he’s sort of his standard going like, ‘Well, what does this mean? What are we? What are we doing? Why aren’t we putting a label on this?’”

“And I think that even though he’s rough on the outside, he really kind of leans with his heart, and I think it’s a little bit difficult for him to not be able to get her to open up and allow him to be there for her and I think at the same time, she just has her own things that she needs to work through,” he said. “And so it’s gonna be like a really sort of interesting dynamic to see those two people who have been drawn together, drawn to each other for so long try and discover what they are. But I guess what they always sort of felt like they would be when he was out, and clearly, it’s not exactly that at this point. So, yeah, it’s gonna be a messy relationship in all the good ways.”

There is still much to look forward to, and it’s clear that Bode will have his hands full. Fans will just have to see how it all turns out in new episodes of Fire Country airing on Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on CBS.