Season 3 of CBS’ Fire Country premiered last Friday, October 18. Fans were treated to the answers they’ve been waiting for; what happens after Gabriela’s wedding, what happens with Manny, and a peek at Eve and Jake working together during the crash at Smokey’s.
We got the chance to talk to Jules Latimer about Eve’s story this season, and more.
Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Nerds and Beyond: I wanted to talk a little bit about last season. Eve had a bit of a difficult time taking over Three Rock, but ended up earning the respect of everyone there. What can we look forward to this season with Eve?
Jules Latimer: She’s definitely more settled in her position and has garnered the respect of the guys. The third season [she] sort of livens up, and she has more of a sense of humor with the guys, and we just trust each other a lot more… She’s able to sort of explore her life outside work, and we get to learn a little bit about her family, and she may or may not have a love interest. Her world sort of opens up a lot more.
Nerds and Beyond: I love the relationship that Eve has with Jake. What’s your favorite thing about their relationship?
Jules: I think the thing that I love most about our relationship is that it’s very similar to off-camera. We’re very jokey. I feel like I’m constantly giving Jordan [Calloway] advice, and I’m always backing up decisions that are a little questionable, like being the father of a young child. Yeah, our relationship is very much super similar to how it is on screen. I love that we get to this season… we get to spend a lot more time together and figure out different things that we’re both individually sort of wrestling with as characters. That was something I requested from the writers when we were thinking about the season. Really happy that they followed through on it.
Nerds and Beyond: What have you learned about portraying a firefighter? Are there any cool stunts they’ve allowed you to do? I was talking to Stephanie and she was talking about how much the costumes weighed.
Jules: When we started doing this show, my research was like, Station 19. They talk a lot, they cook a lot, like, I could do that. That’s what firefighters do [laughs]. But no, we are fully in gear. I’m trying to think of one of the really cool things… I didn’t know that Cal Fire was land, and sky. So, being a hot shot like season one, being able to navigate coming out of the helicopter and doing a rescue… I was wearing the tanks. It’s about 70 pounds all together as far as what we have to carry on our bodies. And, we do carry the actual weight of it.
Cutting line has been a very interesting thing. I never understood that there’s oxygen, and cutting line into the soil creates a natural barrier for fire. And, you have to be EMT certified. I just think firefighters can do so much, which I didn’t know, which is I think why everyone loves firefighters.
Nerds and Beyond: What’s one of your favorite characteristics of Eve’s?
Jules: Though I love her sense of organization, I think she sometimes traps herself a little bit because she wants to follow things by the book, but sometimes a majority of the time in life, you can’t do that. I love her sense of humor, she is really resilient and has an ability to bounce back from a lot of that stuff. And I feel like this season… she has a great ability to let things go and kind of go with the flow. And I think that just speaks to her experiences as a firefighter. We are really growing with her.
Nerds and Beyond: Is there any actor on the show you wish you had more scenes with?
Jules: I mean, I love Billy Burke. I’ve loved him since the moment I met him, and we don’t get a lot of scenes together, but have a very similar sense of humor. Yeah, I wish I could spend more time with him.
Nerds and Beyond: Is there anything that you’ve learned from a past role that you’ve taken with you to Fire Country?
Jules: I did this show called Guilty Party. It was actually on Paramount+. I don’t think it’s on Paramount+ anymore, but I played a character named Toni Plimpton, and she went to prison, and I loved her resilience in the show, I thought she was a really strong person, and just sort of… the emotional quality that she had, I sort of bring into this. She had a lot of stamina, and had the ability to sort of take a lot of punches. And I think as a firefighter that definitely happens, and you have to kind of roll with it. I definitely feel like that character informed Eve a lot.
Nerds and Beyond: What are you most looking forward to fans seeing this season?
Jules: I’m looking forward to people getting to know Eve on a personal level. I feel like her whole trajectory has been about work and hanging out with my best friend and this family, but I think we really get a window into her life and her past, and I think it’s gonna give fans a lot more to sort of gravitate to and hold on to this season as far as character.
Nerds and Beyond: Last question — if you had one word to describe this season, what would you pick?
Jules: It would be legacy. And the reason why… [it’s] so funny because we get a chance to meet with the writers right before the season. And I was heavily meditating on last season. I’m like, “Okay, where do we go from here?” So, when I went into the writer’s room, I did my own sort of independent exploration about what I wanted to see with Eve. And before they spoke, I talked about images that I saw. It would be really cool to see her, like on a force, or it could be really cool to see her speak to a group of children. Maybe it’s like a career day or something. I came into the writer’s room with the word legacy and saying, like, “I want to know why she is a firefighter and why she cares so much.” The funny part was once I turned it over to the room, and they started talking, “Did you know that our theme for this season was legacy?” And I was like, “Nope. I had no idea.” But, you know, we were just on the same wavelength. I thought it was kind of incredible. We were all sort of on the same page. So, yeah, legacy would be it.
Fire Country airs Friday nights on CBS. You can catch up with the episodes the next day on Paramount+!
