'SEAL Team' star Max Thieriot pours heart, hometown into 'Fire Country'; hit drama 'is my baby'

Max Thieriot is putting his heart and his roots into "Fire Country."

Thieriot's Sonoma County, California, hometown of Occidental, is a major inspiration for tree-filled, rural Edgewater in the CBS hit show (airing Friday 9 ET/PT).

"SEAL Team" star Thieriot, 34, is not only the "Fire Country" creator, but also stars as convicted felon Bode Donovan, who joins a real-life California prison-release firefighting program to battle blazes across the region.

"I grew up in a town of less than 1,000 people, which is a really tight-knit community," says Thieriot. "And there's that small-town vibe where everybody knows everything that's going on about everyone."

Likewise, some of his childhood friends went on to become firefighters. Thieriot draws inspiration from these "real people who do the job" in the drama, and plans to show more of the psychological trauma they deal with as forest fires become more powerful and more frequent.

"It's tough, It's getting harder to find people to fight these wildfires, because they're so dangerous," says Thieriot. "And the serious toll it takes on people psychologically is something we will explore on the show."

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Thieriot, who has starred for six season on the Paramount+ streaming series "SEAL Team," has been working double duty – flying from the Los Angeles "SEAL Team" set to Vancouver to shoot the first season of "Fire Country."

With the burgeoning audience propelling "Fire Country" to TV's top new series (averaging 7.3 million viewers per week), it was clear the double acting work was not tenable for the long term.

"SEAL Team" viewers were dealt a major surprise blow in Sunday's episode when Thieriot's Clay Spenser was killed in a tragic shooting in the episode's final moments.

"It's definitely a bizarre feeling," Thieriot says of that aftermath, "This is the end of something that was such a big part of my life. You feel like a little bit of you is dying too."

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"'Fire Country' is my baby and something I've poured my heart into," Thieriot says. "Frankly, I didn't imagine that it would take off so quickly. Or even at all. I love what I'm doing. But is there a part of me that wished that somehow I could have done both? Of course there is."

"SEAL Team" executive producer Spencer Hudnut made the tough call of ending Clay's character in dramatic fashion.

"I struggled with it," Hudnut says. "I love Max and this character, which has been a big part of me for five years. But once it was clear, it became a question of how. We thought about having Clay ride off into the sunset, but that just isn't the show."

Sunday's episode even suggested that Clay, who has been dealing with his leg amputation from a Season 5 finale battle explosion, might have a sunset ending. At one point, Clay and his university professor wife, Stella Baxter (Alona Tal), giddily discuss starting their lives over in a new town.

But the conversation is interrupted by a call from distressed veteran Ben (Joey Pollari), and Clay finds him with a gun outside an Air Force recruiting center. After defusing the situation, and taking away the gun, a security officer mistakenly shoots Clay.

"The idea was to show the sad truth," Thieriot says. "Like, you go around the world and take down some of the baddest terrorists on the planet, and that's how this guy goes down. I don't think Clay would ever have imagined going down that way."

But the circumstances around the tragic death do highlight the plight of veterans dealing with the psychological scars of war, a key theme in the drama.

"'SEAL Team' tells impactful stories about the devastating side," Thieriot says. "It shows the good, the bad and the ugly. So as much as I didn't want to go, maybe this gives another opportunity to show that here."

Afterward, Thieriot spoke during a subdued cake farewell on the set.

"I gave a little speech and I cried a little myself," Thieriot says. "I reminded the crew that they should be very proud because they work their butts off to create a great show. But it was crazy. There was no time for a celebration afterward. I actually got on a plane and flew up to Vancouver to work on 'Fire Country.'"

Clay's "SEAL Team" death will reverberate as a major emotional chapter for stars David Boreanaz (Jason Hayes) and Neil Brown Jr. (Ray Perry) for the rest of the season. Cast members have texted Thieriot snippets of upcoming episodes showing the painful fall-out, and the team supporting Clay's family. It's touching as well as strange for the actor.

"Watching scenes of characters talking about (Clay) dying, it was like watching them reflect on me dying. It's surreal," Thieriot says. "But it was a great experience. I'm going to miss it and all of those folks."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'SEAL Team' star Max Thieriot puts heart, hometown into 'Fire Country'