Fire Country interview: Max Thieriot on Bode Leone's journey to becoming the firefighter he needs to be in season 3

There's been much anticipation for the debut of Jared Padalecki's Fire Country character, Camden Casey, and concern over what path his insistence that Bode Leone lean into his instincts could lead our hero down. Season 3 episode 5, "Edgewater's About to Get Real Cozy," gave us our first look at the dynamic between the two as Camden immediately bypassed protocol in his training of Bode during a rescue mission after a plane crash.

The episode also highlighted the issues in Bode and Gabriela's situationship, and our lead's growing friendship with his fellow cadet, Audrey James. I had the opportunity to talk with Max Thieriot about Bode's journey to self-discovery through the Camden arc, the wild ride that is his character's romance with Gabriela, why Audrey and Bode click, and whether we'll be seeing even more of Smokey's now that Bode has a job at the tavern. Here's what the star shared and teased!

Max Thieriot on Bode Leone's journey in Fire Country season 3 and how his relationships inform it

What it was like working with Jared Padalecki for this arc since you guys are friends and you're introducing the character of Camden who's a bit of a wild card?

It was a lot of fun. Getting to work together is something we wanted to do for a long time and have talked about. We've just always been kind of busy and off doing things and unable to [work together], so when this opportunity presented itself, he and I talked about it and we instantly had so much support from the studio and network and all the producers and everyone. We knew we had an opportunity do something fun here. 

We came up with this character and obviously wanted [Jared] to come in and make us laugh and really kind of mix it up with our team and also be an important character and leave a big impact on a lot of the people in our world. He certainly does that. It was fun. It was honestly great getting to hang out and spend a bunch of time together and laugh, you know? Get to throw on the gear and get in there, in the fire together. It was pretty great.

He definitely did make quite the splash. Camden is the only one who seems to be, at least this season, encouraging Bode to embrace his tendency to take risks. How is that helpful to him in the coming episodes and how is it a hinderance?

I think his family sees him as a firefighter, his strengths and his weakness, but he has a much different approach to the job than the Leones, Jake, and kind of everybody else frankly. The big thing is that they're nervous about Bode being Bode and, in a way, that's basically what Camden is saying he needs to do. I think Bode is doing his best to sort of fight those [risk-taking] urges and tendencies and is trying to walk this line but now his instructor is telling him he shouldn't be doing that, so it's complicating things for Bode in a deep way.

He wants to always do the right thing and he's really kind of getting pulled in two different directions. I think he ends up learning and understanding sometimes it's not just the work that drives people to do certain things, it's things about them personally or things that have happened to them personally that drive them to make certain decisions. It's certainly a struggle for Bode and eats away at him a lot in these next couple of episodes. 

Ultimately it also ends up allowing him to look at himself in a different way and unpack, you know, some of his own personal trauma and life experiences and understand himself on a deep level and understand ultimately the firefighter that he needs to be. I don't want to say what exactly that is because that'd give away too much but I think that Camden and Bode will, in a way, both leave an impact on each other professionally and personally.

It seems this season that Bode is trying to strike a balance between recklessness through his sense of service, but also his know-how in the field, even if it's innate for him. But also on a personal level, balancing his relationships with his work, particularly with Gabriela. It's been interesting seeing their dynamic shift this season with her being more impulsive than him and [Bode] trying to balance her out. What has that been like trying to navigate that change in their relationship since Bode is now no longer at fire camp?

Bode had this idea of what his life would be like outside, and I think in a lot of ways, it's like he's always hoped, but then there's things like this that I think kind of keep him--that are adding uncertainty. It's this hard realization for him of like maybe not everything is how he thought it would be but what is it then and what are they?

There's just a lot of uncertainty with it. Bode and Gabriela have always had this instant sort of chemistry and draw [but] they've never had the opportunity to actually be together. So, unpacking that a little bit is gonna certainly be a wild ride for awhile. I think, ultimately, they both begin to understand themselves better through it.

It feels like Bode gets a new friend each season that ends up becoming like family. As we keep going forward and progressing with the cadet program, how does Bode and Audrey's relationship change and shift as they get closer towards the end of it, particularly since they both have two strikes hanging over their heads?

The two of them are on this really fun journey this season together. There's fear over, obviously, failing out of the program. There's competitive, you know, jostling that they sort of do because of the uncertainty over how many spots are available and it's specifically at 42 which is somewhere they both want be. 

At the same time I think that the two of them are able to understand each other better than anybody else at this point. Just because of the things--doing time in prison and the life experiences that the two have had and that they share it's still like one of the things that you can talk about but if you haven't done it, you don't understand.

So I think they have this deeper understanding of each other than anyone else. That helps evolve their relationship and progress their relationship and friendship in ways that others aren't really able to do. Both think they have to kind of lean on each other a lot and help each other. Either help each other succeed or help each other fight different urges and help each other from making mistakes that might allow them to fail.

It's a lot of fun. Leven [Rambin] is incredible. She's really easy to work with and she was able to bring so many layers to her character that allows her and I to play with so many different things. The scenes are really fun.

Yeah, because they started out in an antagonistic sort of dynamic, then it becomes antagonistic and yet fun, and now it's very teasing but also open. I've appreciated how with each episode they become more comfortable, and honest with one another about where they are and their feelings. 

Exactly. It's the evolution of their friendship. They've made a lot of progress thus far. It's fun because in the beginning you think, "Oh, this is the next villain," and there's definitely some uncertainty when [Audrey] shows up and is instantly like this antagonist. She sees [Bode] as being this guy with gifts and he's given everything on a silver platter, [but] I think the more they get to know each other the better friends they become.

By the end [of the episode], Bode is going to be working part-time at Smokey's. With him spending more time there will we also see the found family even more at [the tavern]. They're already there a lot but it'd be nice to see them interact more with the townspeople as well.

Exactly. No, that's the intent. Obviously, Smokey's is such a staple in the show and in the community. It's really like the watering hole, so certainly we spend more time there. We get to kind of live in that space more and get a feel more of the people who make Edgewater Edgewater. Now that we have the Leones there, it gives us that much more reason to be there and get to tell some of those stories. There's a lot of fun stuff coming up at Smokey's. More music and everything.

Stay tuned to One Chicago Center for more Fire Country coverage!