Morena Baccarin is reuniting with husband Ben McKenzie — on screen — in season 2 of Sheriff Country.
CBS announced on Monday, August 24, that McKenzie, 47, plays Sheriff Wade, a “neighboring sheriff who is called in to assist Mickey.” The season 2 premiere will mark the first time the real-life couple will share the screen on the show.
McKenzie previously spoke to Us about if he could see a scenario in which he would appear on the Fire Country spinoff, saying coyly in April, “I do.”
McKenzie said he enjoyed tuning in every week to see Baccarin’s police procedural.
“She’s great. The kids love her show — or at least a couple of them do. We were watching the last two episodes last night,” the actor, who shares three kids with Baccarin, shared. “It was a two-parter. It was a Sheriff Country and then a Fire Country [crossover]. And it’s just awesome.”
He continued: “It’s interesting because in many ways, it’s a show that is similar to other shows, in the sense there’s a cop drama, but it’s really about the community of Edgewater and the relationships between all these people in this fictional small town.”
As a viewer, McKenzie was thrilled by the show’s success.
“There’s something about the incredibly strong desire for those communities — and the absence of those — that is really quite charming. I also just love that there’s a female lead in a female sheriff,” he explained. “This is a part that would always have gone to a man — including myself — in the past. It’s fantastic to be able to see her do that. She’s crushing it.”
McKenzie admitted it was “funny” to see how often people now “recognize” Baccarin, 47, over him, adding, “I have to try to remind my kids that at one point I was also famous! They’re not impressed by my crypto documentary.”
The town of Edgewater was originally introduced when Fire Country premiered in 2022 with inmate Bode (Max Thieriot) returning home and volunteering for the California Conservation Camp Program during season 1 of the hit show. By season 2, a backdoor pilot set up the world of Sheriff Country, which is centered around Sharon’s (Diane Farr) estranged sister Mickey (Baccarin) as she solves crimes in town.
CBS was quick to renew Sheriff Country in December 2025 after its success on the network. According to a press release, Sheriff Country has averaged 7.6 million viewers and is “consistently a time period winner” for Friday nights at 8 P.M.
The first season wrapped up in May with a shocking episode that revealed Deputy Director of the DEA — Eva (Rachel Ticotin) — as Mickey’s mother who was presumed dead.
“We’re told in the pilot of season 1 that Mickey’s mother is dead and it’s quite clear she’s dead. She’s not part of the picture. One of the writers pitched it to me relatively early in season 1 [that she was secretly alive], and I dismissed it,” showrunner Matt Lopez exclusively told Us at the time. “Over the course of the season, more and more writers started to get on board. I was a fairly late convert because I don’t want to just turn over a card to turn over a card. If it gives us really good story and reveals something about the characters we care about and it’s grounded in real human emotion then I’m interested.”
