9-1-1: Lone Star EP Promises Closure in Final Season: ‘We Give a Beautiful Send-Off to These Characters’

After four over-the-top seasons, the brave men and women of the 126 are getting ready to say goodbye — and they’re doing it on their own terms.

Heading into production on 9-1-1: Lone Star‘s fifth season, co-showrunner Rashad Raisani “knew it would be an uphill battle to get anything past Season 5 and that there was a good chance this could be it. All those corporate factors at play — our distribution business and financiers and networks and all that stuff — was above our creative heads,” he explains.

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With that in mind, his intention was to “just let it rip” from the beginning, building out powerful arcs for each character to play out over the course of the 12-episode final season.

For Judd, that arc involves facing “uncomfortable feelings he doesn’t want to admit” following Grace’s sudden departure; for Owen, it’s figuring out why he’s been “living in a fog” lately; for Tommy, it’s figuring out how to move forward in her relationship with Trevor amidst unforeseen obstacles; for Carlos, now officially a Texas Ranger, it’s solving his father’s murder without letting his obsession consume him; for T.K., it’s about getting to know his half-brother, one with whom he shared a mother; and for Paul and Marjan, it’s competing for the firehouse’s open lieutenant position without hurting their friendship.

Even though Lone Star isn’t returning for Season 6, it was also important for viewers to feel that their favorite characters’ lives would continue long past the series finale.

“We give a beautiful send-off to each and every one of these characters, but we also leave the door open on stories, so it feels like there’s actually still more stuff to deeply explore,” Raisani explains. “I love this show tremendously. I love working with these actors. I feel like we’ve just started to scratch the surface of what they’re all able to do and what we as a show are able to do.”

What are your hopes for 9-1-1: Lone Star‘s final season? Drop ’em in a comment below.

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