Max Thieriot is aiming to inspire in an upcoming Fire Country teaser set to air during Super Bowl LVIII.
“What happens out there today, will shape the rest of your life,” Thieriot, 35, says in Us Weekly’s exclusive sneak peek of the promo. “Remember what it took to get here because every time you suit up, it could be the last chance you’ll ever get to lay it all on the line.”
The clip features Thieriot, who co-created and stars on the CBS series as Bode Donovan, sitting next to a projector as it plays a montage of forest fire clips on the wall. The screen transitions to a group of firefighters running toward the disaster.
“To fight with the person next to you, and for the person next to you,” he continues. “To be remembered as someone who faced the fire and never flinched.”
The video ends with a reflection of flames displayed on Thieriot’s face.
Fire Country is gearing up for its season 2 premiere on Friday, February 16. The show, which premiered in 2022, follows convict Bode as he joins the California firefighters to lessen his prison sentence. However, Bode’s connection to the team runs deeper as his father, Vince Leone (Billy Burke), is the Cal Fire Battalion Chief.
Season 1 ended in May 2023 with Bode taking the fall for his friend Freddy (W. Tre Davis) who brought drugs into their town of Three Rock. Earlier this month, Burke, 57, teased what to expect from the Cal Fire group after they confer over Bode’s actions in season 2.
“There’s a scene that we have in, I think it’s the first episode, where it’s just the four of us sitting at Smokey’s,” he exclusively shared with Us of what’s to come. “We’re talking about what’s happening with Bode. I like those sort of scenes that feel like a courtroom drama where … there may or may not be unintended power struggles going on in those types of scenes.”
Thieriot came up with the premise of the show based on his personal experience of seeing firefighters protect his hometown of Occidental, California during the local Tubbs and Nuns fires in 2017. The deadly wildfires killed 40 people and affected more than 6,000 homes in Sonoma County.
“It was chaos. It was so surreal and unbelievable that this fire was spreading where it was. People just couldn’t imagine this ever happening,” the actor recalled during an interview with the Petaluma Argus Courier in October 2022. “And after it was all over, I was driving around, and it was just hard to digest [seeing local landmarks get demolished]. My gosh, the devastation.”
Fire Country season 2 premieres on CBS Friday, February 16, at 9 p.m. ET.
