Morena Baccarin knows she's got a hit series with "Sheriff Country" just from her frequent flights between her upstate New York home and the Toronto set of the CBS drama.
She's getting the star treatment at airport security as TSA agents recognize Baccarin, 47, as Sheriff Mickey Fox, the single-mom lawwoman fighting crime in Edgewater, California, the same fictional town where firefighters battle blazes in "Fire Country."
"Cop shows are apparently quite popular for TSA employees," Baccarin tells USA TODAY before starting a day's work on set. "I get quite a lot of, 'Oh my God, you're...' You still have to take off your shoes."
The numbers back up the airport
buzz. As "Sheriff Country" and "Fire Country," two CBS shows co-created by Max Thieriot,come together for a two-hour crossover Friday (8 p.m. ET on CBS, streaming on Paramount+ the next day), the sheriff spinoff has climbed to No. 3 among all series this season, behind only CBS' "Marshals" and "Tracker."
Averaging 10.4 million viewers in seven-day multiplatform viewing, "Sheriff Country" has well surpassed its parent series, "Fire Country," which ranks No. 13 among series with 7.9 million viewers.
"We've hit a sweet spot, giving a mystery that you get to solve every week, but also a longer arc emotionally with these characters people tune in for," Baccarin says, downplaying the show's success over the mother ship "Fire Country," now in its fifth season. "That's pretty normal for TV. We should be so lucky to be able to keep going for four more years like they are."
'Fire Country' and 'Sheriff Country' share a hometown but film 2,100 miles apart
Thieriot was a key member of the production team that recruited "V," "Homeland" and "Deadpool" star Baccarin for the spinoff. "Sheriff Country" producers even shifted production 2,100 miles east from the "Fire Country" Vancouver location to Toronto to be closer to Baccarin's upstate New York home with "The O.C." star husband Ben McKenzie and their three children – Julius, 13, Frances, 10, and Arthur, 5.
The distance between the two Edgewater sets makes the crossover a complicated undertaking. "Sheriff Country" kicks off the two-hour event with "No Way In," in which a prison break escalates into a hostage crisis. "Fire Country" follows with "No Way Out," as firefighter Bode Leone (Thieriot) and the Station 42 crew join Sheriff Mickey Fox and her deputies in a dangerous manhunt. Shooting both sides of the small-town drama requires a lot of cross-country travel.
"We went back and forth cross country a lot," Thieriot says. "It all seems to be totally smooth and seamless when you see the end product. But you don't know the things that go into it all."
Stream Fire Country on Paramount+
'You root for her': Thieriot on Morena Baccarin's 'Sheriff Country' character
The appeal of Baccarin's sheriff, a "High Potential" meets "Yellowstone" heroine, is clear. Mickey grew up on the wrong side of Edgewater's tracks, has a marijuana-growing father, Wes Fox (W. Earl Brown), a daughter recovering from drug addiction, Skye Fraley (Amanda Arcuri), and a love life that's a continuing disaster. Yet she's fiercely protective of the town and its residents, even when her own life is falling apart.
"You want to see somebody who's flawed. Imperfect people who have to make impossible decisions all the time," Thieriot says. "Morena is so obviously so talented. You not only root for her, but you sympathize with her. You want to see her win."
Baccarin is instantly convincing as a sheriff, a role that literally comes with baggage. During her research, the actress discovered that real-life law enforcement officers have to contend with bulky, ever-present duty belts. She's still finding ways to lighten the load of her own heavy-duty equipment belt during long production days.
"We've added a rubber gun for the moments where I'm not pulling it out of the holster, and a rubber walkie that's not so heavy," she says. The costume department has also added Velcro to the inner belt to keep the constantly shifting equipment in place. "We've made some minor improvements that have made my life easier."
Baccarin also relates to Mickey's family pain, dealing with her own separation from her children during the lengthy Toronto shoot.
"I'm exhausted. My kids miss me," she says. "I definitely find myself much more empathetic to the family stories, the human aspect of things. I'm much more vulnerable and raw."
The Edgewater universe could expand further with a third series, a planned small-town hospital spinoff tentatively called "Medical Country." Baccarin hopes "Sheriff Country" has a long future of its own.
"I've done shows where the audience gets tired, doesn't come back or the show doesn't deliver as promised," Baccarin says. "But this is the perfect storm, featuring someone with an internal sense of justice – a small-town lioness who knows how things should be but can't quite get her life there. It makes for really good storytelling."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Sheriff Country' burns up TV as Morena Baccarin enters 'Fire Country' crossover
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