Chris O’Donnell & Jessica Capshaw Tease ‘9-1-1: Nashville’s 4-Alarm Action & Family Drama

Buckle up, Music City. The 9-1-1 franchise is back…and going country.

Having wreaked havoc with the L.A.-based mothership and the just-wrapped Lone Star spinoff, überproducer Ryan Murphy has a new first-responder drama, 9-1-1: Nashville. This one is set in the Athens of the South. And it’s bringing the same kind of on-brand 9-1-1 disasters that would make Irwin Allen proud.

“We have an Airstream trailer that ends up on top of a bridge and a poor guy on a Segway tour of the city who ends up impaled on a water tower,” previews showrunner Rashad Raisani, adding that he’s finally getting to stage the splashy water-park crisis he’s dreamed of since his time overseeing Lone Star. “We’re going to get a bunch of crazy emergencies where people end up in places where they shouldn’t be.”

But while “its DNA, of course, is 9-1-1,” Raisani says the spinoff is taking a soapier approach (as well as shooting on location!) to forge its own identity. “There’s some Succession…and some Dynasty slipped in there,” he offers. “The show begins with an explosive revelation that affects the central dynamic of a character’s world. And then we shamelessly use tornadoes to great effect as a metaphor for the storm that has come into these characters’ lives.”

Captain Courageous

In the eye of this emotional twister are NCIS: Los Angeles alum Chris O’Donnell‘s Fire Captain Don Hart and his wife, Blythe, the well-heeled member of a horse-racing empire played by Grey’s Anatomy grad Jessica Capshaw, who hails from five generations of incredible wealth. “So there’s a story of class,” Raisani explains. “She comes from money, but there was a fire at her ranch, and she fell for this blue-collar firefighter.”

“I’m sure I wasn’t her parents’ first pick,” laughs O’Donnell, noting that Don “straddles being a firefighter and then also being in this very high-end, well-known family here in Nashville.” To make things even more awkward, their son Ryan (Michael Provost) has chosen hoses over horses. “Don’s pretty pleased with that,” brags the good-natured O’Donnell. “But I’m sure it drives some other people crazy.”

Despite Don’s and Blythe’s wildly different backgrounds, Capshaw feels the Harts “have access to a level of honesty with each other that is incredibly aspirational. They show up, mistakes and all, misgivings and all, and they really make the choice to be with each other every day with that same level of commitment. And you’re going to see them have it all tested.”

Indeed, Raisani confirms that Blythe has a “rival character” in country crooner LeAnn Rimes‘ Dixie, a former backup singer “who always felt like she deserved more than she got. As our series starts, she’s going to try and take what’s hers.” Whether or not that’s her old pal Don, all O’Donnell will say is, “Dixie comes from the same place” as his character. “They got to know each other when they were a lot younger.”

Not that Don is the type to play with fire. “He’s all about building a family and community and leading by example,” says O’Donnell. Thankfully, he’s got an extended clan of like-minded ladder jockeys at his Station 113 house, as well as what sounds like some Tami Taylor-like support from Blythe.

 

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“I would never be so bold [as to compare them], because she’s just a personal hero of mine,” raves Capshaw of the beloved Friday Night Lights wife and mom (fittingly played by original 9-1-1 cast member Connie Britton). “But while Blythe’s not a first responder, she is a very strong presence within the world of the [station],” she continues. “You have to create a family because you’re trusting each other with everything.”

So far, in addition to son Ryan and surgeon turned paramedic captain Roxie Alba (Juani Feliz of Harlem), those having the Harts’ backs include firefighters Blue Bennings (Instagram sensation Hunter McVey) — a newbie who’s “actually a stripper by trade that comes into the firehouse and upends everything,” teases Raisani — and Taylor Thompson, played by Power Book III: Raising Kanan‘s Hailey Kilgore, a 2018 Tony nominee for Broadway’s Once on This Island.

“Of course, since we’re in Nashville, we need a character who can sing and play guitar,” admits Raisani. “So, [Thompson is] an aspiring musician with incredible talent who will work musically into some of our episodes and give us that part of the show.”

Filthy-rich folks, freaky disasters, on-location action, and the occasional tune? Sounds like something that might just catch fire.

9-1-1: Nashville, Series Premiere, Thursday, Oct. 9, 9/8c, ABC