As the 9-1-1 franchise continues to expand, executive producer Tim Minear has a message for fans who think there’s only room for one 9-1-1 adventure at at time.
Minear — who serves as showrunner on the mothership series, ABC’s 9-1-1, and was co-showrunner on 9-1-1: Lone Star — tells Entertainment Weekly it was “hard to say goodbye” to the Texas-based spinoff when its series finale aired in early February. But he hopes original 9-1-1 fans who resisted the Rob Lowe-led drama will find it streaming on Hulu now that its run on Fox is over.
“I really loved the five years that we did on that show. I think we were really creative and successful in ” says Minear. “I really think that if [9-1-1 fans] just give it a chance and stop acting like it’s in competition with 9-1-1, which it never was, I think that they could love it. It’s different.” “It’s not trying to be the same show as 9-1-1, just like Nashville is not going to try to be Lone Star,” Minear continues, referencing the new spinoff announced by ABC last month. That all said, “It was tough to say goodbye to those characters. I loved that cast. I loved those characters.”
But have they said goodbye to all the Lone Star characters?
“I adore Gina Torres, and will hopefully work with her again soon,” Minear adds, unprompted, of the Firefly and Suits alum, who starred as paramedic captain of the 126, Tommy Vega, on the final four seasons of Lone Star. Does that mean Torres’ Tommy could make her way to Tennessee? No Nashville casting has been announced — but Minear does share why the Country Music Capital of the World was chosen as the next spinoff location (months after rumors of a Hawaii-based edition were reported).
“It’s the city itself, its personality,” Minear explains. “We just thought it would be a good fit for the franchise — and actually quite different than Texas.” 9-1-1 returns with the season 8 winter premiere — which sees Jennifer Love Hewitt’s Maddie kidnapped by a possible serial killer — Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
