‘Fire Country’ Showrunner Tia Napolitano Reveals How ‘SEAL Team’ Reunion Came Together (Exclusive)

December 20, 2025, 5:02pm

The latest episodes of Fire Country have been featuring a SEAL Team reunion, and showrunner Tia Napolitano shared with PopCulture.com how it happened.

Alona Tal was recently cast as Max Thieriot’s potential new love interest, reuniting the two after they starred on SEAL Team together.

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On the CBS-turned-Paramount+ military drama, Thieriot’s Clay dated Tal’s Stella before the two ultimately tied the knot and had a kid together, and it seemed like they’d get the happily ever after they both deserved. However, Clay was ultimately killed during Season 6, ironically, due to Thieriot’s involvement with Fire Country. Now Tal plays Chloe, a teacher who was Bode’s peer tutor and crush in high school.

Pictured (L-R): Max Thieriot as Bode Leone and Alona Tal as Chloe. Photo: Sergei Bachlakov/CBS

When it came to casting Tal for the role, Napolitano, who also serves as executive producer, said that she and Thieriot were both “really interested in getting to know a teacher.” She continued, “We feel like in the real world, it’s a common, authentic pairing, especially where Max is from. And so we started developing Chloe, and we love that they know each other from the small town and from high school.”

Napolitano went on to explain that as they had people read for Chloe, a light bulb went on for Thieriot, who said, “‘Oh my god. What if we could get Alona?’ And I was like, ‘Could we? Can we do this?’” she recalled. “And CBS was so excited about it, and then Alona was so excited about it, and it’s like we got what we wanted, which is always so exciting.”

Pictured L to R: Alona Tal as Stella Baxter and Max Thieriot as Clay Spenser. Photo: Erik Voake/CBS

While this reunion has been a treat for SEAL Team fans, the storyline has gotten complicated, to say the least. Chloe’s partner, Landon (Josh McDermitt), was hurting her son, Tyler, who also told Bode that Landon might’ve been the one to start the Zabel Ridge Fire that killed Vince. And with the way the fall finale went, there’s no telling what will be in store for Chloe and Bode come the new year.

Regardless, seeing Max Thieriot and Alona Tal on-screen together again is exciting, and fans should expect to see more of them when Fire Country returns on Friday, Feb. 27 at 9 p.m. ET on CBS, streaming the next day on Paramount+, where all episodes of the series are streaming as well as all episodes of SEAL Team.