Sheriff Country fans who have been waiting to see how Morena Baccarin and Ben McKenzie share the screen in season 2 might be surprised to find out their characters likely won’t be love interests on the show.
“There is a huge personal element to their relationship. What their relationship has never been is there’s never been a hint of romance between it,” showrunner Matt Lopez exclusively told Us. “I think you’re right that the audience will expect that.”
Lopez, however, was excited to lean into something else.
“Without giving anything away, that much in the way that we opened season 2 not with a direct pick up from season 1 but from Mickey getting scraped off the floor of the Drake County Sheriff’s Office, I love to subvert people’s expectations,” he teased.
The Friday, October 9, premiere briefly introduced McKenzie as a sheriff in the neighboring Drake County. Not much else was revealed, which was intentional with a plan to bring McKenzie back in the future.
“It was just a little taste of Ben McKenzie for this season. A very light-hearted scene that also has tragic overtones. Mickey is probably at her lowest point and when we meet Sheriff Jim Wade, we see that he is there for her at her lowest point,” he hinted. “But this season isn’t about whether she can put her family back together. It’s like can she put herself back together? And obviously, what’s going on with her mother is a big part of that journey and what we’ll see with Sheriff Jim Wade is he will play a role in that too.”
Lopez hinted at a deep backstory that will explain how the characters first crossed paths before their relationship dynamics evolved.
“What we’ll unpack in subsequent episodes — and he’ll figure heavily down the stretch of our season — is that he and Mickey were at the academy together. They came up together and they’ve been good friends. But even though they’re roughly the same level of experience, he’s been sheriff of Drake County for much longer than Mickey has been sheriff of Edgewater County,” Lopez added. “And Jim, at a time when there was great skepticism of Mickey, he was an early and vocal champion of hers. So it’s a very close relationship.”
He continued: “He’s Skye’s godfather and so there’s a real level of trust there now. That’s not to say that it will be smooth sailing. Ben and Morena are fantastic on screen together. There’s an upcoming episode where they are in conflict and to call it an argument is an understatement. It is such an explosive scene. You could hear a pin drop on set. He and Morena stepped off the set and they were both like, ‘We’ve never played a scene like that. And it was so much fun.’ And obviously, perhaps not surprisingly, they have great chemistry.”
But there is also Boone (Matt Lauria) to think about. After he declared his feelings for Mickey in season 1, she shot him down. Mickey is not reconsidering that, which Boone is aware of but avoiding.
“He’s so noble and dreamy. It would be a win for him. And he plays it so beautifully. You can see him wanting to tell her but he’s torn and heartbroken. But I think that’s one of the wonderful things about the character of Nate Boone and the way Matt plays him is there’s a selflessness there for good and bad,” Lopez explained. “He realizes she needs her people around her right now. Boone is not about to throw one more hand grenade into Mickey’s life now, as we will see, as we get deeper and deeper into [the] season. Those feelings and that regret that Mickey expressed … just because she’s in a self-denial about it doesn’t mean she can avoid it. In classic Mickey Fox fashion, she loves to not face those messy emotions and avoid them if she can. But she will not be able to do that forever.”
Sheriff Country airs on CBS Fridays at 8 p.m. ET.
