Fire Country Season 2, Episode 5 confirmed the fate of Sabina Gadecki's Cara, as fans wonder if the character did die.
The hit CBS drama (which is also streaming on Paramount+) is in the middle of its second season, telling a "based on a true story'" tale of a group of volunteer firefighters in Northern California.
As fans sit on the edge of their seats week after week, the series offers high-stakes action as this colorful cast of characters battles the forces of nature.
[ Full Cast of Fire Country Season 2 on CBS - Every Main Character & Actor Who Appears (Photos) ]
The Fate of Fire Country's Cara Revealed
After weeks of battling fire after fire, the characters of Fire Country Season 2 had to deal with a major casualty in Season 2, Episode 5 (titled "This Storm Will Pass").
In taking on their first firenado, the Edgewater firefighting team lost someone close to them, as Sabina Gadecki's Cara died amidst the chaos of the merciless blaze.
This episode saw the in-universe ER nurse accidentally thrown from a cliff while behind the wheel of her ambulance, impaling her with a piece of debris.
After seeing her in the hospital, with the question looming of whether she will live, Gadecki's series mainstay succumbed to her injuries, leaving the rest of the cast with a gaping hole in their hearts.
The episode ended with the Edgewater community holding a public funeral for Cara, with a particular focus being put on the dearly departed nurse's daughter Genevieve who is now without her mother.
Star Diane Farr teased "a turning point" coming in Season 2 (via Entertainment Weekly), and it is assumed this is what she was talking about.
It is unknown who Genevieve's father is, although it is assumed he could be series protagonist Bode Donovan (Max Thieriot).
Now that she is without a parent to watch over her, the 12-year-old will have to grow up fast, as it feels like who exactly her father is will be a focus moving forward.
Stars React to Cara's Death in Fire Country
Following Cara's on-screen death in Fire Country Season 2, the people who make the show happen have come out in droves, speaking about the shocking departure of the longtime character.
Cara actress Sabina Gadecki reacted to finding out her character would die, telling Entertainment Weekly that she knew it was coming for some time but had to keep it a secret:
"I’m so grateful I had time to process my own feelings before it became something, so it was my little secret from the cast."
"It broke my heart, but I understood it," she added, saying she knew "the story has to go places," and her death is a part of that.
Max Thierot, who plays Cara's former lover Bode Donovan in the series, offered a similar sentiment for Gadecki.
He posited in a conversation with Parade, "It was difficult for [him] as an actor" but knows "this allows these characters to sort of open up:"
"It was difficult for me as an actor and difficult for me as Max. I know what this allows these characters to sort of open up to and the journey that it will take everybody through afterwards. But selfishly, at the same time, as a friend, I really didn't want to see her go yet."
The actors continued praising Gadecki for her performance in the show, knowing playing Cara would open up new opportunities for the Fire Country star.
Series executive producer Tony Phelan said this decision to kill Cara was not something they knew they were going to do from the beginning.
It was when realizing the journey of the young Genevieve was "going to include so many [characters]," that they knew they had to do something to introduce a loss to "would further deepen the plight of this girl" (via Deadline):
"We didn’t know. When it was clear that the journey of our characters with this young girl Genevieve [Alix West Lefler] was going to include so many of them, we were like, 'what would be a loss that the audience would really feel, that our characters would feel and would further deepen the plight of this girl? Who was really going to be her parent?'"
And that is a particularly significant sentiment for fans eager to know what happens next to take with them into the rest of Season 2.
After teasing things out with the journey of Genevieve and how she relates to the rest of the cast, now it is time for her journey to begin in earnest, and losing her mother was intrinsic in starting that process.
Fire Country Season 2 continues on CBS with new episodes debuting on Fridays at 9 p.m. ET.
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