When it seems like a character has died in a show or movie, it’s always important to remember that you shouldn’t believe that’s a fact until you see the body. Well, the same can be said about the outcome of weddings too. In Fire Country’s Season 2 finale, Gabriela and Diego were at the alter about to say “I do,” however, those words haven’t been uttered yet. So, going into Season 3 of Max Thieriot’s fire drama, we don’t actually know if they’re married or not, and showrunner Tia Napolitano told me why that’s important.
In the lead-up to Fire Country’s premiere on the 2024 TV schedule, I interviewed Napolitano and the cast about what’s to come during Season 3. Obviously, that meant I had to ask about Diego and Gabriela’s wedding and its potential outcome. While chatting about how Season 2 ended, the executive producer made it very clear that it was intentional to not have the couple say “I do” in that episode. However, many jumped to the conclusion that they did go through with it. To that point, she explained:
Nothing was guaranteed. I think a lot of people watching the finale sort of glazed over that fact and presumed she got married or presumed she said, ‘I do.’ And a lot of press I did for the finale, people made those assumptions, and assume nothing that you haven't seen actually on your TV. So we really could do whatever we wanted. You know we could jump time [or do a] direct pickup, have her say ‘I do’ [or] have her not. You know, it was very blue sky, which felt really exciting.
When I interviewed Napolitano about the Season 2 finale of Fire Country last spring, we spent a lot of time talking about why Bode didn’t break up the wedding and his ultimately leaving to tell Luke that he wanted to reclaim his legacy as a Leone firefighter. However, when I asked her what she was excited to explore in Season 3, she pointed out the fact that Gabriela and Diego’s wedding was still going on, saying:
We don't actually see Gabriela and Diego exchange wedding vows. So that's…I'm very excited about that.
Well, you heard her folks, the outcome of Gabriela and Diego’s wedding is a big deal, and it’s created some exciting and dramatic opportunities for Season 3.
We now know that the show's junior installment will pick up right where Season 2 left off, meaning we should get to see if Stephanie Arcila’s character goes through with her nuptials. Plus, the showrunner teased in a different interview that there will be “a new level of attraction and complication” between Gabriela and Bode this season. That implies that whether she goes through with the ceremony or not, her past relationship will impact what’s coming next in a big way.
To that point, Stephanie Arcila also addressed the cliffhanger we’re holding onto when I spoke to her about Season 3’s premiere. Along with all of us fans who have been theorizing about the relationships between Bode, Gabriela and Diego, she was thinking about the outcome of the wedding and viewers’ reactions to it too:
It's nice and nerve-wracking, right, I'm assuming for fans as well...I think people think that we know, but most of the time we don't know what's going to happen. So I think if anything, [between Seasons 2 and 3] I was like, ‘Man, our fans are gonna they're gonna flip.’ They're either gonna be pissed off. They're like, ‘What's going on? How could you leave us like this?’ Right? Like fear of abandonment with this show, but it's good. It's also exciting. It's something to look forward to.
All this is to say, buckle up folks, because we’re in for one dramatic ride when Fire Country premieres. As Napolitano said, “nothing was guaranteed” at the end of Season 2, so we should probably expect the unexpected when it comes to what’s next, and that’s so exciting!
To see what happens and if Diego and Gabriela say “I do,” you can catch Fire Country’s Season 3 premiere on Friday, October 18 on CBS or you can stream it the next day with a Paramount+ subscription.
