‘9-1-1: Nashville’: Jessica Capshaw Teases ‘Dark Secrets’ & ‘Emotional Fire’ of New Spinoff

Jessica Capshaw is going to be back on ABC Thursday nights this fall and right before her former show Grey’s Anatomy. She’s part of the cast of the new 9-1-1 spinoff, Nashville.

Capshaw plays the wife of Captain Don Sharpe (Chris O’Donnell), and they share a son, who has yet to be cast. While she has yet to film anything, she was able to lightly tease what to expect when TV Insider caught up with the 9-1-1: Nashville star at the 2025 Disney Upfront carpet on May 13.

Tell me what you know about your character.

Jessica Capshaw: She’s sort of this equal, it seems to me — because remember, we have not started yet — but what I know feels like an equal parts, she’s part conductor and making sure that the family is good and well and warm and this matriarch at the same time that she’s sort of still got this incredibly strong relationship with her husband. And my guess is that’s going to get to be fiery and fun. Then there’s all the dark secrets that people don’t know yet. So we’ll see that side of her. And then there’s this very business-like, ambitious, strategic oriented part of her. I have to say when I was reading it, and I was obviously particularly invested in the things that she was saying or looking at them in a different way, I liked her. I was like, I would like to hang out with this person. She seems great.

Are there any similarities between her and Arizona?

Not yet. And I have to say, I think that these two are going to be very dissimilar.

What’s her job exactly? Are we going to see you in the middle of a bunch of rescues?

No, no. I’ll be far from the fires, the actual fires. I’ll have to create some other fire, some emotional fire.

How much is music going to be part of the show?

I think it’s going to be a big part. I really do. I think that that’s a big piece of — obviously there’s a lot of weather patterns in Nashville, different weather patterns and music. So I think we’re going to have some stormy music.

So we’re going to hear you singing?

Why not? I would love that.

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How familiar were you with the 9-1-1 franchise before this? Had you seen the big rescues that you could always end up part of even if it’s not your character’s job?

Yeah, right. Exactly. You don’t know. I was on Grey’s Anatomy for a long time. You never know what’s going to happen to you next. I think that they do a tremendous job clearly, which is why I think that people love watching it so much. But the little known fact is that the more shocking and the more intricate and the more detailed a big rescue is, the longer it takes to shoot, the more work that it takes from everyone and everything. And so it is funny, you love it and you don’t like it.

Have you gotten any rumbling of crossovers yet?

No, but that would be super fun, too.

Are there any 9-1-1 cast members in particular that you would like to work with?

Oh, all of them. I mean, every single person is more talented than the next. It’s incredible.

9-1-1: Nashville, Fall 2025, Thursdays, 9/8c, ABC