Edgewater’s most-dedicated first-responders are back for Fire Country season 5.

Bode Leone and the rest of his crew had a tough but important 2025-2026 cycle. Starting the year with a couple of major disruptions, including the death of Billy Burke’s Vince and exit of Stephanie Arcila’s Gabriela, Fire Country was in a transition mode all throughout season 5. The show’s overall trajectory was reflected in Bode’s own arc, which was defined by a lot of challenges, which was motivated by the consecutive losses.

Unfortunately for Fire Country, the challenges don’t stop there. After confirming CBS’s fall 2026 schedule, the Eye Network shared specific details about what to expect from some of its upcoming shows. That included the confirmation that Fire Country season 5 will have a reduced order of 13 episodes. This means that when the series returns in the fall, it will wrap up its run for the cycle, likely before the holiday break, instead of coming back in the winter.

Understandably, that’s disappointing, but Max Thieriot and the rest of the cast and crew are back on set for Fire Country season 5, hyping up fans for what’s to come for Edgewater’s firefighters. Posting an image on social media, the actor and show producer effectively confirms that they have started filming for what comes next on the series. Check it out below:

For context, Fire Country‘s 13-episode run for season 5 is a significant demotion from the show’s regular 20-episode annual output. This excludes the truncated 2023-2024 cycle due to the dual Hollywood strikes of 2023, but that impacted the industry as a whole, as nearly every single scripted show had a shorter season due to the work stoppage earlier in the network TV season.

Admittedly, Fire Country did suffer a dip in ratings in season 4, potentially because of the exits of Vince and Gabriela — two original characters who were also vital to Bode’s overall story. At the same time, CBS officially launched its first spinoff — Morena Baccarin’s Sheriff Country, which did exceedingly well during its debut year. While its parent series got a downgrade from CBS, the offshoot will keep its full-season run.

Whether CBS will eventually reverse its decision to slash Fire Country’s episode count for season 6 (assuming it gets picked up again beyond the 2026-2027 TV cycle) is curious. Now that it has survived its first cast exodus, the series can focus on rebuilding the series and working towards building a future that will resonate with its fans. That said, they’d have to do that in just 13 episodes, which is a tall order, although not impossible.

Fire Country

Release Date

October 7, 2022

Showrunner

Tia Napolitano

Directors

Bill Purple, Dermott Downs, Eagle Egilsson, Gonzalo Amat, Kevin Alejandro, Max Thieriot, Sarah Wayne Callies, Marie Jamora, Kantu Lentz, Antonio Negret, Laura Nisbet Peters, Lisa Demaine, Nicole Rubio, James Strong, Anton Cropper, Erica A. Watson, Joy T. Lane, Jacquie Gould, Chi-Yoon Chung