‘9-1-1: Lone Star’ Boss Talks Show Cancellation, Promises ‘Apocalyptic’ Ending That Leaves Door Open for More
The 9-1-1: Lone Star team didn’t officially know the show was ending with its upcoming fifth and final season (premiering Monday, September 23 on Fox) until recently, but the writing was on the wall before then.
“We didn’t officially find out this was the final season until about three weeks ago or something like that, when it was on an ad for the show,” co-showrunner and executive producer Rashad Raisani tells TV Insider. “But we knew even before the writers’ and actors’ strikes because of some of the deal-making minutia, because this was a Disney-owned show on a Fox network that it was gonna be difficult for it to go past Season 5 just from a financial numbers point of view.”
As a result, the approach to writing the season was to “hopefully give it a poetic ending and make people feel like it was incredibly satisfying,” he continues. That being said, expect it to end “very on brand.”
Raisani teases, “It’s gonna have an apocalyptic ending in more ways than one. I’m immensely proud. I haven’t cut the last two episodes, so I haven’t seen how they fully work out, but I’m very confident that they will give you this feeling, I hope, that we are leaving all of these people right where they should be at the end of their journeys—for better, for worse. I think people are gonna have a tremendous sense of both closure and longing to not want to leave them behind, that we’re leaving them just before we’re ready to say goodbye, which I hope is the mark of a show that’s ending at the right time. It’s when you feel like it’s too soon, but yet you feel like, OK, that’s a beautiful last chapter for them if that has to be the last chapter.”
He also stresses that, when it came to writing the end of the season before they knew officially it would be it, he wanted to leave the door open for more. “We didn’t want to close the book entirely,” he says.
Does that mean that 9-1-1: Lone Star could be saved or there could be a spinoff?
“Who knows?” Raisani says. “From a purely numerical point of view, I’d say it’s tough. It’s really tough. But then I look across the landscape, at shows like S.W.A.T. and SEAL Team who have been in sort of similar circumstances to us in some ways in that they had a studio that was different than their network. They were more mature shows that had a lot of years into them, which means they’re very expensive, and they found ways to survive. So it has been done. So there’s still some hope some way.”
He’s also “more than happy to jump into it” if anyone was interested in a spinoff. “I do feel frankly like we’re leaving these people too early,” he explains. “I still think there’s so many stories left to tell with these actors and these characters in our world. So I’m a realist in that I think it’s gonna be very challenging for us to keep going with our current environment. But I’m also an idealist in that if there was any hope I would jump to the door.”
How do you want 9-1-1: Lone Star to end? Let us know in the comments section below.
9-1-1: Lone Star, Fifth and Final Season Premiere, Monday, September 23, 8/7c, Fox
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C
Go to ABC 911 Lone Star needs more seasons, please save it
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G
It is way too soon to be cancelling Lonestar 911. There is still a lot that could be done with story lines and characters. This is a darn good show and an excellent cast. PLEASE KEEP IT ON!!
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B
Why can’t they go to ABC like 911 did??
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G
I really can't envision this show without Grace.
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I hope and pray that it gets renewed. This is a great show. Please save it.
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O
Go over to ABC more 9-1-1 crossovers
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I don’t want it to end
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G
Sorry to see it end. Another great show that gets cancelled and all these game/reality shows go on.
I hope it gets renewed or folded into another show.
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O
I really thought last season’s finale may have been the series finale because they didn’t know if the show was renewed for another season. I enjoyed watching it again last night. I hope they don’t go too far into the weeds to make it a “poetic ending’. Let the show gently stand on its own when it goes. It can and it should, without any unnecessary embellishments.
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I'm going to miss seeing tk and Carlos reyes strand in action 🎬 and how they're lives together ❤️, they need a sitcom just for them and Carlos finds the person who killed his father.
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If we only got a spinoff, let it be with Marjon's character.
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B
Why would u do that, he makes the show
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I Don't!!!
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C
I don’t want it to end but if it must I want Tarlos to have an HEA
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G
As a 30 career Firefighter/ Paramedic I say GOOD RIDDANCE. None of these shows have the slightest resemblance to reality!
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I want Owen Strand dead and everyone else living their best lives, whatever that may mean for them.
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TV Insider, please remove the above hateful comment.
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