Entertainment
Fire Country Finds New Showrunner After Multiple Onscreen Exits
Fire Country has already found a new showrunner — but who is replacing Tia Napolitano and what have they worked on?
News broke on Thursday, March 5, that Eric Guggenheim will be taking over for Napolitano. According to Deadline, Guggenheim is coming onboard after previously serving as showrunner of Magnum P.I and coshowrunner of Hawaii Five-0.
Guggenheim joined Fire Country two weeks after CBS announced Napolitano would not be returning after season 4.
“Tia has been instrumental in helping both build and steer Fire Country, which not only became a top series, but is also the foundation of a growing universe,” CBS Entertainment President Amy Reisenbach and CBS Studios President David Stapf said in a joint statement to TVLine on Friday, January 16. “We’re grateful for all her contributions and tireless work, and look forward to collaborating with her on future projects.”
Fire Country has experienced cast — and showrunner — departures amid budget cuts, so which cast members are and aren’t returning for season 5? The CBS series, which premiered in 2022, introduced Us to the town of Edgewater after inmate Bode (Max Thieriot) returned home and began volunteering for the California Conservation Camp Program. By […]
Napolitano released her own statement, which read, “I am beyond proud of the past four seasons of Fire Country. All of my gratitude to our cast, crew, writers, producers, fans, and of course CBS and CBS Studios. It’s been a beautiful ride!”
Before her exit, Napolitano had been with the show since it premiered on CBS in 2022. She previously spoke exclusively to Us Weekly about what awaited the rest of the fourth season.
“[You should] be worried. We’ve got Bode and Tyler in a fire shelter in the middle of a blaze. Those things are built for one, there’s two lives in there,” she shared in December 2025. “And we’ve got Jake and his brother over the side of a cliff. You see how many times that vehicle goes over and over. We see heads hit hard surfaces.”
Fire Country has faced numerous surprising cast — and crew — changes over the years. The CBS series, which premiered in 2022, introduced Us to the town of Edgewater after inmate Bode (Max Thieriot) returned home and began volunteering for the California Conservation Camp Program. By season 2, a backdoor pilot set up the world […]
Napolitano teased that “those are not easy things to come back” from, adding, “We’ll watch our people fight to get out of there.” She also revealed there was a “huge twist” coming in the midseason premiere, which airs on February 27.
“It’s going to change everything that hugely impacts Bode. He is going to really fight to continue to be on his path to progress and growth that we love to see him on. He has made those good choices — though he still struggles — and winning those struggles and really becoming someone who can continue to be someone Tyler wants to grow up to be,” she said. “Bode is a role model. Look how far we have come.”
She continued: “Eve is going to find her way with these new guys at Three Roc. Sharon is learning even more so how to stand on her own. Ruby — her mother — comes back. There’s a lot of surprises, twists and turns, and drive coming out of that twist that comes at the end of the midseason premiere.”
Fire Country airs on CBS Fridays at 9 p.m. ET. New episodes will be streaming the next day on Paramount+.