CBS has given the green light to its first new series for the 2025-26 broadcast season, a spinoff of the popular show Fire Country titled "Sheriff Country." The announcement was made during CBS' presentation in Los Angeles.

The new series will be headlined by Morena Baccarin, who will play the role of Sheriff Mickey Fox, a straight-shooting law enforcement officer in the small town of Edgewater. Mickey is the stepsister of Sharon Leone (played by Diane Farr), the division chief of Cal Fire in the original Fire Country series.

In "Sheriff Country," Mickey Fox investigates criminal activities while patrolling the streets of Edgewater. She must also deal with her ex-convict father and a mysterious incident involving her daughter. The potential spinoff was introduced when Baccarin guest-starred in an episode of Fire Country last April. Both the pilot and the spinoff episode were written by Joan Rater and Tony Phelan, along with Max Thieriot, who also directed the spinoff episode.

The decision to create a spinoff series was not surprising, considering that Fire Country was the most-watched new broadcast series of the previous season, with an average of 8 million viewers per episode and 10 million in live+35 multi-platform viewing. CBS President and CEO George Cheeks had previously hinted at the possibility of a Fire Country spinoff during a conversation with Deadline's Peter White last June.

CBS is focused on building mass-appeal franchises, and Fire Country's success made it the perfect candidate for expanding into a new universe. With the creation of Sheriff Country, CBS aims to build a new franchise from scratch. The series is being produced by CBS Studios and has an impressive team of executive producers on board, including Thieriot, Phelan, Rater, Jerry Bruckheimer, and KristieAnne Reed for JBTV.

The initial episode of Sheriff Country is being written by Tony Phelan and Joan Rater, with the story also credited to Phelan, Rater, and Max Thieriot. Fans of Fire Country can look forward to the new spinoff series and the exciting adventures of Sheriff Mickey Fox as she tackles crime in small-town Edgewater.