‘Fire Country’: Max Thieriot Previews Jared Padalecki’s ‘Exciting’ Guest Appearance (Exclusive)

Supernatural alum Jared Padalecki is coming to Fire Country this Friday, Nov. 15 and Max Thieriot spoke to PopCulture.com about what’s in store. Padalecki is set to play SoCal firefighter and maverick Camden Casey on the episode “Edgewater’s About to Get Real Cozy,” who “immediately recognizes Bode’s raw talent” when Station 42 and Three Rock jump into action after an airplane makes an emergency landing outside of Edgewater.

The Walker star will be appearing in a three-episode arc beginning Friday. Thieriot shared that Camden is “definitely a new character in our world and, obviously, very much part of the bigger CalFire family, but clearly from a different part of town.” He continued, “He’s from a different part of the state, and we instantly feel the contrast and sort of just all the different vibes that he’s got compared to the people that we’re used to. But he comes in and sort of makes a big splash when we meet him, and he’ll be intimately involved with all of our characters, especially Bode. And the two of them will kind of go on quite the journey together and ultimately end up, I think, shaping each other in ways that maybe they did and also didn’t expect.”

As for how the role came about, Thieriot and Padalecki are actually friends in real life and have been for a while. Essentially, the role was written for Padalecki. “It was an idea that we’d kind of all kicked around, and the studio and network were supportive of,” Thieriot shared. “And Jared and I have been buddies for a long time. We’ve never had the opportunity to work together, and it kind of just… like all of us are sort of aligned, and we’re able to make it all work. And so Tia [Napolitano] and Tony [Phelan] and Joan [Rater] and all of our writers in the room just kind of put their heads together and sort of fleshed out this idea and this character and just built out this arc and throughout these episodes that I think is really exciting.”

“It was something that we sort of backchanneled at first and kicked around and talked about,” Thieriot continued. “And Jared and I talked a few times and I was down in Austin last spring. I think at that point, his show hadn’t ended, but I think they knew they had sort of an uphill battle, and he wasn’t really sure what he was gonna be doing. And we’ve kind of just always said, like, ‘Man, we wanna do something together.’ And this sort of ended up being kind of the perfect opportunity to explore that.”

While Max Thieriot and Jared Padalecki are buddies in real life, that is not going to be the same on Fire Country, at least not yet. They “don’t normally work together in any capacity,” hence why Padalecki is coming on the show in the first place. Fans will “see some of the levity in there, but these are two firefighters that are kind of these alpha lone wolf characters who do things the way that they do it,” Thieriot explained of Bode and Camden’s dynamic. “That might be a little bit different, but they are sort of quick to act and jump into the fire, and that’s just sort of their nature. I think Jared and my relationship with friends is we have a lot of these really great heartfelt talks that we’ll sort of see in these episodes. He and I also sort of just laugh our asses off a lot, having a lot of fun. So I think we don’t see as much of that in the show that exists between the two of us in real life. But maybe down the road.”

It sounds like Camden Casey will be bringing some interesting dynamics to the table, and it’s going to be exciting to see how it all turns out. These next three episodes should be interesting with Jared Padalecki, and fans will want to tune in this Friday, Nov. 15, at 9 p.m. ET on CBS to see how it kicks off.