‘Sheriff Country’: EP Matt Lopez Breaks Down Fall Finale and Teases What’s Next Following Cliffhanger (Exclusive)

Sheriff Country’s first midseason finale ended on a major cliffhanger, and showrunner and executive producer Matt Lopez spoke to PopCulture.com all about it.

In Friday’s episode, “Crucible, Part 1,” a father and son flee a ranch run by one of Edgewater’s most powerful families, but the further Mickey investigates the disturbing allegations of abuse and dangerous secrets, the riskier it is.

It included some surprising reveals, such as Mickey and Travis’ relationship possibly taking the next step once again, as well as Cassidy’s family mystery. Additionally, the episode ended on a pretty big cliffhanger that is sure to leave fans wanting more as they wait for the winter premiere in February. Take a look at what Lopez had to say about the fall finale, and what’s coming up, below. (Interview has been edited for length and clarity.)

PopCulture: The episode surprisingly kicks off with Mickey calling Travis about a squirrel in the house, and they end up hooking up, and it turns into a very awkward morning. It seems to be a one-time thing, but could this be the beginning of them rekindling their relationship?

Matt Lopez: It absolutely could be. We love the idea. The Mickey-Travis relationship is such an interesting one. They literally grew up together. They went to school together. They fathered a child when they were seniors in high school. And we sort of love the idea that you can fall in and out of love with someone, but when you’re with someone that long, and you share so much, a bedrock of love and respect and affection, I don’t think it’s ever that far away. And I think it’s very romantic, kind of the idea that you fall in love with your ex.

When Skye was suspected of her boyfriend’s murder, it threw Mickey and Travis back into each other’s lives in a way that they probably had not been in a few years, at least since their divorce. And what you saw there is there were all kinds of sparks. There were the sparks that, like, “Oh, yeah. I just remembered why I can’t stand that about you.” But I think there’s also some, “Oh, yeah. I remember what’s great about you, too.” And that’s a really sweet story. Obviously, it’s put in severe jeopardy at the end of our midseason finale, but it’s a story we’re excited about telling on the other side.

PC: The big case for the fall finale is a father and son who stow away in the trunk of a police car, and they come from a very powerful family in Edgewater, but the father believes that the ranch they live and work on is not safe for his son. Was there any inspiration for the storyline at all?

Lopez: There was a bunch of inspiration. The character you’re referring to, his name is Enoch Barlow, and he’s a rancher who lives in a remote area outside of Edgewater with five or six other families who are kind of separatist people. They mind their own business. They don’t get in trouble. We did not want to paint them into being some weird cult or anything like that, but they are people who believe in the Constitution and believe in the right to bear arms. And as Enoch puts it to Mickey in Episode 9, “Have you ever had to answer a call up to my ranch?”

They are private, peace-seeking people. At the same time, they are amassing weapons. What we see in the episode is there is a bit of suspicion and paranoia starting to creep into this kind of separatist dynamic that they have off on this ranch. And when a father and a young boy try to escape their compound, it leads to a whole host of complications for Mickey. We’ll call upon Mickey to try and find a meeting of the minds with Enoch Barlow.

We very much want to avoid black-and-white cardboard-cutout villains on this show. And while Enoch Barlow’s methods are extreme, he believes that he is doing right by his family and his community. And in that respect, it’s no different than what Mickey believes she’s doing for her family at the XO and her community. But when those two things collide, what gives? And that’s very much the story of Episode 10, the second part of our two-parter.

PC: Going off of that, at one point, Mickey and Boone check out the ranch, but there is something very off about it. And their instincts proved to be right when they were briefly trapped by some guys blocking them and holding guns. In that moment, what do you believe is going through their minds as this more or less confirmed that something was wrong and vice versa? What do you believe everyone else on the ranch was thinking when they see these intruders?

Lopez: I think it’s in a delicious sort of way. It’s nuanced and complex. The kids, when you see them, they’re happy. They’re being well educated. They seem balanced. They farm the land. They eat a healthy meal. They probably don’t spend eight hours a day on TikTok. There’s kind of a lot to be said for the way that they live. But there’s also this other element, like I said, of paranoia and fear and the potential to spill over into violence.

There’s that great scene that you referenced in Episode 9 where there’s a moment of where Mickey and Boone are like, “Are we going to be allowed to leave here?” You see this sometimes, where in that moment, they are outgunned. It could be not great for them. They are allowed to leave, but as, of course, we see at the end of the episode, it’s not the end of the story.

PC: One thing I love about this episode was the moment in the car with Mickey and Boone. They’re finally catching up with each other on their lives and the awkwardness that has been between them, and they reflect on how their partnership used to be. It was nice to see after the series kicked off with their relationship being strained, and after Boone almost left. Will we be getting more of these moments between them in the second part of the season?

Lopez: Absolutely. We have many great car rides, and talking to our tech consultants who are retired sheriffs, there’s an intimacy, when you ride around in a car with someone for years, including and especially, into some very dangerous, if not life threatening situations, there’s a bond that happens that officers and deputies will tell you can exceed in its own way the intimacy of spouses. And precisely what you’re talking about is what we wanted to see these characters do, which is they underwent this real test early in the season, where Boone had no choice but to investigate Skye. And could Mickey and Boone’s relationship emerge stronger out on the other side? And what you saw through Episodes 5 and 6 is them taking baby steps toward restoring and repairing that bond.

And now we’re getting to a point in the season where they are in a really good and solid place. And the two-part episode that straddles the middle of our season, “The Crucible,” will see those bonds tested. If they can survive, I think they have a chance to emerge even at a greater plateau, and the scenes, as you probably picked up on, they’re fun. And what we’ve really responded to as writers is writing to the dynamic that is there with Morena Baccarin and Matt Lauria. That dynamic, you saw them riding around in the car. That’s literally the two of them when the cameras are not moving. So it’s just a lot of fun, and I know they have a lot of fun playing it.

PC: The other storyline that we got this episode was about Cassidy and her mother when she and Hank responded to a domestic disturbance call, and it’s revealed that the woman is her mom. Not only that, but we find out that it’s her sister’s birthday, and she had disappeared years ago. Cassidy is reluctant to look for answers, knowing what the outcome could look like. But then Hank tells her that she should look into it to get closure for her mom because she’s been suffering for so long. And we do see her start to look more into her file. Where will the storyline go in the new year?

Lopez: It’s a fantastic story. I think, similar to the way that “The Crucible” episode plays very much in the waters of action and suspense, the story of what happened to Cassidy Campbell’s sister, who just literally went to a party one night and never came home, very much sets up, I think, the most tantalizing mystery we tell all season. It’s a really, really great sort of page-turning mystery that will lead Cassidy to some dark places.

As you pointed out, she knows and fears how these stories end, and we love the idea, and I think audiences are gonna love the character of Hank. We actually met him in Episode 8. And he’s kind of Cassidy’s long-time rival, frenemy. They’re very, very different temperaments and personalities. And yet, he’s able to break through to her in a way with some tough love that convinces her. She owes it to herself. She owes it to her mom to go back and figure out, try and reconstruct what happened. And is there a chance that her sister might still be alive? And it’s a really exciting story.

PC: You talked about this a little bit already, but the episode ends on a pretty big cliffhanger. The station coming under attack with the lights going out and a shootout taking place after Enoch is arrested, and the final words that we hear is that Travis was shot. What can you tease about what’s in store for the winter premiere?

Lopez: It’s such a fantastic episode. It’s so tense. I was watching it this morning for visual effects, and it’s just like literally you are on the edge of your seat because the Barlows, the separatist group, has planned this. They did this, and it’s no accident at end of watch where there are very few officers in the station. They created a wild goose chase that took several of the deputies across town. So it’s just a skeleton crew of our heroes who are on hand when this siege, this assault begins.

It’s got amazing Die Hard vibes. It takes place in this sheriff’s station under a tremendous strain. And all season long, in different ways and at different times, we’ve been telling the story of Mickey as a story of a woman who, on the one hand, is a mother and a daughter and a mentor and a leader. But on the other hand, is this cop. And how does she balance those two things? How does she figure out a way to get Travis, and not just Travis, but Boone and Cassidy to live through the next night? And it’s really exciting. It’s also essentially a real-time episode, which I love, that kind of storytelling. Episode 10 is, like, 43 minutes long, and it takes place in about 43 minutes.

It is really just constantly moving. And then the ripple effects. The next episode after that is, no accident, called “The Aftermath.” And what we will see is that the ripple effects of going through that crucible will linger and impact all their emotional lives moving forward for the rest of the season.

Sheriff Country returns on Friday, Feb. 27 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS, streaming the next day on Paramount+.