Jared Padalecki has a new CBS pilot set, but does this mean his Fire Country spinoff is dead? Here’s what we know!
Jared Padalecki has been a busy guy on TV in his career. After breaking out as Dean on Gilmore Girls, Padalecki landed his major role of Sam Winchester on the long-running WB/CW series Supernatural. He’d play the role for its epic 15-season run that ended in 2020.
Padalecki jumped right to starring in the CW series Walker, which ended its four-season run in 2024. He wasn’t out of work long as he began a recurring role on CBS’s hit Fire Country.
Now, as the networks get set for pilot season, it looks like Padalecki will be back on TV. Deadline reports that he’ll be starring in the pilot for an as-yet-untitled CBS drama created by Walker showrunner Anna Fricke.
Per Deadline, the series is set in Texas with Padalecki playing “a headstrong, devoted country doctor who practices his unique style of improvisational medicine alongside his new protégé, a young doctor running from her past, as they operate a mobile clinic and heal the bodies and souls of their underserved community in the medical desert of rural Texas.”
It’s an intriguing setup as the show would be set in Padalecki’s home state of Texas, which would give him a chance to flex his acting muscles while playing a doctor. It’s also the sort of feel-good medical drama CBS would want to add to its slate. It’s also probable Padalecki wants to work with Fricke again and trusts her vision.
But what does this mean for the possibility of Padalecki getting his own Fire Country spinoff?
What’s the status of the Fire Country spinoff?
Padalecki started a guest-star role on CBS’s hit Fire Country, playing Captain Camden Casey, a fire department instructor leading Bode (Max Thieriot) through becoming a fireman. The pair butted heads a lot and Casey seemed ready to flunk Bode but eventually let him move on.
It sounded as if Casey was being set up for his own Fire Country spinoff, tentatively titled Fire Country: Surfside, which would follow Casey heading back to Southern California and his regular firefighting job.
This would be the second Fire Country spinoff following the Sheriff Country series set to debut on CBS later this year. According to Deadline, the new pilot isn’t interfering with the planned Surfside series, making it questionable if Padalecki is going to be doing two shows at once.
It could be that Padalecki is keeping his options open just in case CBS doesn’t go ahead with the Surfside series. A major question is, given the massive wildfires burning across the Los Angeles area, would the network find a show about that more appealing or too much for viewers?
Padalecki might also be more inclined to this new drama to stretch his acting muscles as a doctor. There’s also the chance that CBS might schedule things so the Surfside series is a mid-season show while the medical drama could take place later so he might actually be able to balance both shows.
Right now, the medical drama pilot is still in the planning stages without even a title. Obviously, networks pass on many pilots every year, so there is a chance this never comes to light, and fans get to see Padalecki in Surfside after all. Either way, fans of the actor should be happy to know that, one way or another, Padalecki will be back on TV later in 2025.
Fire Country Season 3 returns on Friday, Jan. 31 at 9/8c on CBS.