It looks like there’s a new leader in town for the upcoming CBS drama Sheriff Country. According to Deadline, Matt Lopez, creator of the 2022 family drama Promised Land, has just been confirmed as Sheriff Country’s showrunner and executive producer. This announcement comes a little over a month after CBS’s original series order for Sheriff Country, which will begin airing during the network’s 2025-2026 season.
While only a few specific details are known about the plot of Sheriff Country, the series has been said to be a spin-off of Fire Country, another CBS drama that was renewed for a third season in March 2024. Fire Country centers around a young convict named Bode Donovan who serves as a member of the California Conservation Camp Program. His hopes of redemption and a better life, however, are somewhat complicated when he finds himself assigned to his Northern California hometown of Edgewater and is forced to reconcile his hopes for the future with his struggles with the past.
Sheriff Country will reportedly take place in the same Fire Country setting of Edgewater, California. It will star Deadpool’s Morena Baccarin as town sheriff Mickey Fox, who appeared in two Fire Country episodes and is already known to fans as the distant stepsister of Bode Donovan’s mother. Sheriff Country is set to follow Mickey in her quest to solve all the small-town crimes and cases that come with a place like Edgewater. Mickey’s 15 years as a sheriff have made her a force to be reckoned with — but as issues arise within her own family, it seems more important than ever that she find a way to keep her work and her personal life from mixing.
Who Is ‘Sheriff Country’s New Showrunner, Matt Lopez?
While he may be a newcomer to Sheriff Country, Matt Lopez is no fresh face to the world of entertainment. Before acting as the creator, showrunner, and executive producer for ABC’s Promised Land, Lopez was perhaps best known for his screenwriting credits on films such as Race to Witch Mountain, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and Adam Sandler’s Bedtime Stories. Alongside Edward Streeter, he also penned the script for the 2022 reboot film Father of the Bride. While Lopez has had a great deal of writing experience in the past, it is not yet confirmed how many episodes, if any, he’ll write for Sheriff Country.
With a third season of Fire Country next on CBS’s docket, another unconfirmed detail of Sheriff Country is how much its plot lines will tangle with that of its mother series. But as both shows unfold in the same small-town setting, a potential crossover seems more likely than not. However, as of now, current Fire Country fans will have to wait until the 2025-2026 CBS season to know what lies in store for Edgewater in Sheriff Country — and to see in what direction showrunner Matt Lopez will take the show as a whole.
You can stream previous episodes of Fire Country on Paramount+.