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Vince Leone (Billy Burke) has officially gone on his last incident on Fire Country. The Season 4 premiere of the CBS drama confirms that he doesn’t survive the Buena Vista facility fire, where he was trying to save his son, Bode (Max Thieriot), and father, Walter (Jeff Fahe), from the inferno. Vince and Sharon (Diane Farr) convince their son to leave the fire after he injures his leg and continue trying to free Walter. A sudden fireball exacerbates the situation, separating Vince from Sharon and Walter. Walter ensures that Vince’s wife makes it to safety, but it leaves Vince behind in the flames. By the time the rescue team finds Vince, it’s too late. He’s pronounced dead on the scene.

Vince’s death means that Station 42 not only loses a battalion chief but Sharon loses her life partner while almost every other character loses their father figure. Bode is angry that his best friend Jake (Jordan Calloway) not only stops him from going back into the fire to find Vince, but is also closer to following in Vince’s professional footsteps. That’s a hard pill to swallow for Bode — a lot harder than the painkillers he has stashed in his work locker, constantly tempting him as the chips keep falling against him.

And Vince isn’t the only departure in the Season 4 premiere. Gabs (Stephanie Arcila) also has her last day at Station 42. No, she doesn’t die in an incident, but she does take Cal Fire’s offer to go around the state of California to recruit new firefighters. It will take her out of Edgewater and put some distance between her and Bode, who still have feelings for each other after all this time. Gabriela will be away for work, and Bode’s girlfriend Audrey (Leven Rambin) is also preoccupied dealing with the repercussions of shooting Finn (Blake Lee) last season. That means she’s not around to be stable support for Bode either.

To make matters worse, Vince’s replacement is already on the scene. Cal Fire elects not to promote Jake to the job and instead, sends in Vince’s nemesis Brett Richards, played by recent Emmy-winner for The Pitt, Shawn Hatosy. He wants to “reinvent” Station 42, which fires up Sharon and the rest of the crew because it puts Vince’s legacy at stake.

There is a lot going on as everyone tries to process the loss of Vince Leone. TV Guide caught up with Fire Country boss Tia Napolitano to talk about the premiere and what’s next for the Leones and the other firefighters.

ALSO READ: Fire Country‘s Stephanie Arcila on Gabriela and Bode’s Future Now That She’s Leaving Station 42

Vince is gone. How does that change the show’s chemistry and your storytelling with such an integral part of this family out of the picture?
Tia Napolitano: Vince has always been such a huge part of Fire Country. He’s obviously been a huge part since the pilot. It’s in part why we decided to lose him, because it was a loss that would impact so many of our people. It recenters our show back on where we started, which was rising from the ashes after the loss of Riley. Now, we’re doing it with a character we have come to know and love, along with our core characters. We’re mourning Vince. It’ll really allow some of our characters to rise up, to fill the space he occupied in this big fire family. It’ll allow Bode to continue to grow up professionally and personally. When one member of a generation is gone, I think the next generation has to level up. That’s what’s going to happen with our cast.

We’re seeing Bode and Sharon grieve in this episode, but they are doing it separately. Why are you putting them in separate corners while going through this mutual loss?
Napolitano: Sharon’s grief is very personal to her. She and Vince were so specific. The audience got a window into that, but they really had this corner of their world in that house that other people didn’t know about. I think she needs to mourn that alone. Also, I think they both wish they could take care of each other, but they’re a mess. They’re unwilling to burden the other with their own vulnerability. From a storytelling standpoint, when they do come back together, it feels so good. It feels like coming home. It feels like a little bit of the old show coming back.

Sharon has some strong feelings about Walter pulling her out of Buena Vista and leaving Vince. Does she have any of those feelings for Bode, since he’s why she and Vince ran into the building in the first place?
Napolitano: The difference is she outranks Bode. She says that she was the highest-ranking officer on that fire. Bode is not the one who prevented her from going after her husband. The way that Bode ran into that building, Vince and Sharon did the same thing. They decided to leave IC to Jake and to run in. She feels like the choices Bode made on that fire are choices he learned, instincts he learned from his parents. She feels, I think, more responsible and senior, whereas Walter dragged that lady out, kicking and screaming.

Jake and Bode get into a massive fight at Vince’s funeral. Obviously, Jake was out of line for campaigning for the job at Vince’s funeral, but Bode acts like Jake is taking the job from him when he isn’t. What is really going on with those two?
Napolitano: I think the idea that anyone is talking about replacing Vince at his funeral feels really raw and just wrong to Bode. Bode is not as advanced in his career as Jake is, but when his father passes, someone else might take Vince’s seat, is very threatening to Bode. Deep down, it’s motivating to him. It’s going to motivate him to blast through his professional accomplishments. What’s under it is that Jake held him back at that fire when his family was inside the building. The battalion chief conversation at the funeral just gives Bode a reason to go after Jake at the funeral.

They are still not talking after the two-month time jump. What does their journey as friends look like in Season 4 considering the schism is this big?
Napolitano: It’s interesting. Bode and Jake have always, in a number of ways, vied for the same space. They were both sort of the sons of the Leone house. They both dated Gabriela. Now, they’re moving in a similar zone professionally. The conflicts will move forward, but we will get them back together as friends. What we want to see is how these brothers heal and come back together. It’s going to be a very twisted and strange road until we get the band back together again.

Does the arrival of Brett Richards help mend that bridge or will he further the divide between them?
Napolitano: It’s a giant choice that they have to make. Do they want to fight with each other or do they want to band together to fight Brett Richards? Do they want to hide the conflict? They have this analytical person in Vince’s house. They’ll have to contend with those forks in the road almost immediately.

Can we talk about bringing in Shawn Hatosy? What kind of energy is he bringing to 42?
Napolitano: He’s going to turn everything upside down. We have been used to doing everything the Leone way, and this is a Leone house. He is not that. So there is a question immediately about, who is this guy? Does he have a deeper agenda than we know about? Is he determined to tank us? Is he going to call time of death on this station? What does he want? And Shawn walks that line so beautifully. Is he a good guy or a bad guy? We’ll get to know him and get under the hood for a couple episodes. We’re so lucky to have him.

He starts off bold by saying he wants to reinvent the station. Can you elaborate or tease exactly what that means for Sharon and the rest of the crew?
Napolitano: I think they are wondering, does that mean he wants to dismantle? Does that mean shut down? Does that mean change the culture, which almost feels as bad as dismantling? They’re mourning. Everyone is trying to hold on to every scrap of Vince Leone culture that there is. Here’s this guy saying, “I want to wash it all off and start anew.” Emotionally, it’s very hard. Professionally, it’s very hard. But it is a paramilitary organization. He is their boss, except for Sharon. They have to listen to him. And they are in the business of saving lives, so not listening to him is not an option. It’s just wildly uncomfortable and very exciting.

Someone who won’t be uncomfortable during Brett’s tenure is Gabriela, who is off on a new adventure. Can you talk about crafting that goodbye, and having her and Bode really reconnect just as she departs?
Napolitano: We really felt like “Bodiela” has been such a big part of this series. The door is definitely not closed on “Bodiela” in the future. It’s why the episode is called “Goodbye for Now.” On the way out, we wanted to give the fans something they’ve been craving, which is a little bit of magic. Earlier in the episode, they get to just be on the couch together. Their relationship has been so fraught. He was incarcerated, and she was unavailable. It was angsty. It felt forbidden. There was longing. We wanted to give people some relief so that they could enjoy them. Then on that park bench saying, in light of we could all die any minute, because Vince just did, saying out loud, like there’s love here and the door is not closed, felt very hopeful and romantic and very on brand for the show.

Bode tells her that love has never been their problem. What would you say is the problem?
Napolitano: I think it’s different at every turn. When they meet, she’s with Jake, and he’s incarcerated. He goes back to prison in Season 2 and then she is with Diego. Right now, he’s with Audrey. I think it’s just been like never their time, and it still isn’t their time. That’s what he’s expressing [in the premiere]. May they have another season? I hope so.

Another reason they can’t be together is Audrey, who is struggling with some legal issues. That’s kind of put on the back burner in the premiere, so can you tease what her journey is going to look like this season?
Napolitano: She’ll become someone that we really see as a force of good in Bode’s life. He obviously grabs those pills at the end of the premiere. She’ll be deeply invested in that story. They’re going to be a couple that we really root for. She also went through her own blender, shooting a guy, dealing with the legal ramifications of that. It shook her up. But also, Bode’s dad died. They’re both going through a ton of s–t. How does a couple fight to survive? Individually, they’re in turmoil and we’ll see a lot of that.

How is Bode coping with all of these triggers that threaten his sobriety?
Napolitano: We really wanted to honor that this is a show where the lead struggles with addiction. We haven’t seen him struggle as much, and something very epic and devastating has happened in his life. He happens to have these pills that were given to him last season. What’s he going to do with them? We’re really gonna see him struggle for a little bit without knowing if he goes down a bad path or not. We’re obviously hoping that he doesn’t. We’ll see other characters get involved, find out, fight for him. But we’re really reminded that part of Bode’s DNA is that he struggles with addiction.

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What about Three Rock in Season 4? The camp burned down so it is at least temporarily out of commission.
Napolitano: Eve is going to fight like hell to get Three Rock back. It will be very difficult. It was never a place that was swimming with cash to beginning with. It takes money to rebuild. Bureaucracy does not move quickly. It will be a long and difficult road, but Eve is committed as a character and we are committed as a show to keep Three Rock as part of the DNA. We will get that back in a really big triumph. Three Rock will surprise us. It’s going to look a bit different when it comes back to Fire Country.

And finally, if Vince is gone and Audrey might be going back to jail, what is the state of open mic night at Smokey’s? Who is going to sing the good country covers?
Napolitano: It’s a really good question. There will be music on Fire Country. We love that area of the show. There will be open mic nights. There will be songs for us. It might surprise you who ends up on that stage, but there will be music.