‘9-1-1: Lone Star’: Julian Works on Exploring Mateo & Marvin’s Backstory & That Fun Dream Sequence
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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for 9-1-1: Lone Star Season 4 Episode 11 “Double Trouble.”]
Back in 9-1-1 Season 2, we met Marvin (Julian Works) as he tried to flee from Sergeant Athena Grant (Angela Bassett). Now, on the spinoff 9-1-1: Lone Star, Works stars as firefighter Mateo. In the April 4 episode of the latter, the actor plays both.
Marvin reaches out to Mateo when he needs bail money, and, thanks to the firefighter’s girlfriend, paramedic Nancy (Brianna Baker), he’s able to give it to him. But then Marvin falls back into old habits and ends up dead. Feeling guilty — Mateo was the one who set a fire Marvin took responsibility for as a teen, ending up down the path he did — the firefighter wants to confess to the past crime. It’s his captain, Owen (Rob Lowe), who talks him out of it.
Works takes us inside the episode and teases what’s ahead.
Talk about finding out that you’d not only be playing Marvin again, but also that 9-1-1: Lone Star would be killing him off.
Julian Works: Yeah, I know. We open it back up to bring Marvin back in this world, only to close the chapter on him. You live and let go, baby. The script was such a fun read, and then at the same time, I’m realizing that Marvin eventually dies and it was sad. But he was definitely fun to play. He was a great character in the 9-1-1 universe. So to bring him back on 9-1-1: Lone Star and show [his relationship with] Mateo was so fun. But unfortunately, he made bad decisions and usually when you [do that], you deal with the consequences. And now RIP Marvin.
We got that fun mention of him in the crossover, and I thought that would be it.
Honestly, I thought that mention was going to be it. I had no idea that Tim [Minear] was even thinking about bringing him back in this world, just because it’s a totally different character. It’s a totally different look. But just that mention alone, the fans really got a treat from it. They would message me. They thought it was so funny.
How much of the backstory had you known before this episode?
When I was cast as Mateo, just as an actor, you have to have it in your head, if Marvin is my cousin, why are we different and why are we close? So I had a backstory in my head more or less of, we eventually lived together when we were young, but then we had to go our separate ways. What really nailed it down is when I got the script for this episode, and Tim does such a great job of giving a good background as to why things are the way they are, because they have to make sense at the end of the day. It was similar to what I had in mind, but the good twist on it is that Mateo actually moved into the home of Marvin’s family, and then Mateo was actually the bad one. You would think the opposite, just off the paths they chose as they got older. You see why Mateo is the way he is now and why Marvin went down the road that he [did].
FOX
So you don’t think Mateo would’ve found a way to help people in another way even if not at the 126?
Definitely he would’ve been in trouble, and I feel like Mateo would’ve been influenced by the wrong people, like Marvin [was]. If you have any history of arson, you can’t even be a firefighter, so [that] would’ve been out of the book for Mateo altogether. And so it definitely would’ve changed the path down Mateo’s future. That’s why Mateo feels like he owes Marvin so much and was always there to help him out with whatever he needed, even if it wasn’t the right thing to do. There was so much guilt in his heart, and Marvin knew that, and that’s why he would call on his cousin to ask for help. Because in a way, Marvin knew that Mateo owed him big time.
The great thing about this episode is there are so many lessons to be learned. Just with Mateo and Marvin, the big lesson and the moral is you make mistakes, you have to learn from it, and you just have to move on. You can’t let guilt have you make decisions that aren’t really that good for you logically. But there’s also another moral in the Judd [Jim Parrack] and Wyatt [Jackson Pace] storyline: Nothing is just given to you. You have to work hard for what you want.
I love that Mateo feels comfortable asking Owen for the bail money because that would not be true of most workplaces or roommates.
Oh, 100 percent! I know! I love that dynamic. They’ve really become like another father and son just because Mateo doesn’t have that father figure in his life. Owen’s always just been there and knows what to say — and the fact that they live together. They’ve gotten so close to where I guess Mateo was just like, “You know what? I’ll ask my captain for this money.” Like it was no big deal. But Owen, of course, knows what to say, and when he finds out the number that he’s asking for, he tells him, “look, I don’t think this is the right thing to do.” In his heart, he wants to help, but bigger picture, he knows that he can’t.
I’m surprised that Mateo is still living there. I thought that was going to be one, two episodes, then he would move out.
I know! [Laughs] Yeah, I love it. As long as Owen lets him and Mateo respects the space, I don’t see him going anywhere. But I don’t know, Mateo and Nancy’s relationship is going up another level, so maybe they move in together at some point down the road. But for right now, I feel like Mateo feels really safe at that house and Owen loves the company because obviously his son T.K. is [living with Carlos].
The most important conversation we’ve seen between them thus far has to be the one outside the 126 at the end. Would Mateo have not been able to hear those words and not turn himself in if anyone else had said what Owen did?
Oh, for sure. Mateo was having a hard time dealing with the death and then dealing with that guilt that he had from the trouble that he had caused, that Marvin took the fall for him. I don’t think anyone else could have put into better words for him to understand that. And I think Mateo’s really, really grateful for Owen, not only as a captain, as a leader, but also a father figure.
Kevin Estrada/FOX
I did get a bit worried that everything that happened would come between Mateo and Nancy, even temporarily. But they’re still solid moving forward, right?
Oh yeah. They’re more solid than ever. Nancy’s been the best girlfriend to Mateo, and that’s his baby girl.
Talk about filming that sitcom dream sequence.
Oh, it’s so much fun. I give a big credit for our set dec for doing an awesome job of setting it up and also our costumes — [and] to our producer and director, Brad Buecker, too. He was so good on set. He saw it. A lot of the time, we’re playing it out on the go. So the fact that I was able to have Brad as my director for this episode just made it all so much better. It was so comfortable, and I attribute a lot, obviously to him and also Tim Minear for creating the episode, but I don’t think this episode could have turned out the way it did if it was anybody else directing it. Brad did such a great job of making sure that it was sitcom where it got to be funny and it got to hit, but at the same time it can’t get too wacky, but just enough to show that it’s a different world than the reality that they’re living in.
And I loved seeing everyone popping up in the different roles.
Oh my god, how hilarious was that? Yeah, exactly. We got Milk Man Judd, and then we have Gina [Torres] playing my Mom, and then we have Owen in it, and then [Natacha Karam] playing my sister Daniela. And then of course we got Rafa [Silva] and Ronen [Rubinstein] coming in as cops. It was something so different than we’ve done from this whole season and the show in general. There’s definitely a lot of GIF-type moments during this episode.
What do you remember about filming 9-1-1, especially now that you’ve said goodbye to Marvin?
It was a while ago, but it was so much fun and it’s so funny because Brad actually directed that episode as well. So to share that moment with him in bringing back Marvin, but also saying goodbye was a fun experience. But I do remember the earthquake scene of us being on the freeway, and of course, working with Angela Bassett and the good scenes that we had together. But [what I remember] the most is going through the hair department, because he has different colored hair, and setting his style up.
What’s coming up for Mateo?
As a family, as a unit, we move forward in dealing with what’s to come for someone else. There’s going to be a traumatic experience for someone else. And I think at this point, Mateo’s just got to be there and be strong for his family. I can see the relationship going to another level.
I was going to say, with T.K. and Carlos’ wedding coming up, that could lead to Mateo and Nancy talking about their future…
Yeah, right, exactly. Maybe the bouquet is thrown and then Mateo’s the one to catch it, or Nancy’s the one to catch it. I don’t know. Something’s got to happen, right? [Laughs]
9-1-1: Lone Star, Tuesdays, 8/7c, FOX
