With 9-1-1: Lone Star answering its final call Monday, the series finale was a particularly emotional ride-along for star Gina Torres.
Sitting down with showrunner Rashad Raisani, the actress behind Station 126 paramedic’s Captain Tommy Vega told Deadline it’s “so rare” to be part of such a talented TV ensemble cast, as they both mourned the end of the spinoff after five seasons.
“I think it was right on the money for Tommy,” said Torres of her character’s farewell. “None of that surprised me. When I read it, I thought, ‘Yeah, of course, she’s a soldier.’ She’s gonna go out the way. She came in fighting and doing what she can. That’s what first responders do.”
Although in the final episode, Captain Vega has been put on bed rest during her bout with cancer, seeing what appears to be the ghost of her late husband Charles Vega (Derek Webster), she chooses to join her fellow 126 family one last time in shutting down a nuclear reactor as an asteroid heads toward Austin.
With Hawaii being eyed as a new locale for the 9-1-1 franchise and the future of the parent series up in the air amid its Season 8 midseason hiatus, Raisani is hopeful Captain Vega and some of her 126 family will return.
“There’d be nothing better than to have to revisit these characters in whatever context where they go to one of these cities or whether that city comes to them or LA, whatever it is,” he said. “And I think on a more fundamental level, any chance I can work with — I loved our cast, and Gina and I have a special bond. … I just think it’s just a delight, and I would hope the answer to that is yes and more, I hope.”
Read below about Torres and Raisani’s reaction to Captain Vega’s ending and the future of the 9-1-1 franchise.
RASHAD RAISANI: Well, funny enough, that’s the last scene of the series that was shot, and so it was this incredibly, emotional situation where they were all saying stuff to each other as characters, but also the actors were saying it to each other, “I love you, I love you like my own family, I love you more than my family.” I mean, it was all working on multiple levels for the gang, so it was really difficult. And honestly, I was a little bit angry there cause… it’s ridiculous that this is ending. I mean, they’re all so good, and nobody more so than the lady in my bottom left corner. There was just so much talent and so many stories to tell. But at the same time, I was really proud of this gang of these actors and this crew, who were wonderful.
GINA TORRES: Absolutely. It was 100% bittersweet, and [my character is] dying on top of — we just saw each other a couple of nights ago. Jim [Parrack] was in town, and we got as much of the gang together as we could. Most of us came, and we just miss each other. And we absolutely feel the same way. Nobody wanted this to happen. This was not in anyone’s plan. It is so rare — and I’ve been doing this for a while — it is rare that you have an ensemble cast that works at this level, that is scrappy and ready to do whatever we have to do to get the day done. … It’s always joyful even in the most difficult of situations that Rashad and [co-creator and EP Tim Minear] managed to put us in. That’s rare.
TORRES: I think it was right on the money for Tommy. None of that surprised me. When I read it, I thought, “Yeah, of course, she’s a soldier.” She’s gonna go out the way. She came in fighting and doing what she can. That’s what first responders do. They ignore the pain, they ignore what their bodies are telling them so that they can do their best for somebody else on their worst day. And so, it made perfect sense that that’s how Tommy would respond.
