While Chris O’Donnell was excited to join ABC’s 9-1-1: Nashville, Rob Lowe was sad to say goodbye to his role as Captain Owen Strand on Fox’s 9-1-1: Lone Star.
“I got a little bit of feedback from [Lowe] as far as what to expect before I started,” O’Donnell told TVLine in an interview published on Tuesday, October 7. “He loved it. He’s like, ‘I would have done that show forever.’ He was really enjoying it and didn’t want it to end, frankly. He just took real pleasure in it. He’s like, ‘We’d show up to these sets and these crazy emergencies, and we were the guys that got to save the day.’”
O’Donnell added, “[Rob’s] like, ‘It was just amazing. That’s not something I do in my real life.’”
Owen starred on all five seasons of 9-1-1: Lone Star, which aired on Fox from 2020 to 2025. The series followed Owen and his son, TK Strand (Ronen Rubinstein), as they moved from New York City to Austin, Texas, to revamp the 126 fire station after a tragedy. The series also starred Gina Torres, Jim Parrack, Sierra McClain, Rafael L. Silva, Natacha Karam, Brian Michael Smith, Julian Works, and Brianna Baker.
9-1-1: Lone Star marked the first spinoff in the 9-1-1 TV franchise. 9-1-1 aired its first six seasons on Fox before moving to ABC for Season 7 in 2024.
O’Donnell follows in the footsteps of Lowe and Peter Krause (a.k.a. 9-1-1‘s Bobby Nash) as Don Hart, the captain of 9-1-1: Nashville‘s 113 crew. Although the actor has not met Krause (whose character died on the job in Season 8), O’Donnell praised the 9-1-1 cast members he has met “doing some publicity things” for being “super nice and welcoming.”
Jordin Althaus/FOX
Like its predecessors, 9-1-1: Nashville will feature plenty of over-the-top emergencies. “We’ve got firenados, we’ve got lightning, we’ve got all sorts of stuff,” O’Donnell told the outlet. “There have been a couple of times where I’ve read a script and been like, ‘They can’t be serious here.’”
The story also centers around Don’s family drama. While the captain shares a son, Ryan (Michael Provost), with his wife, Blythe (Jessica Capshaw), the show trailer reveals he is also the father of Dixie’s (LeAnn Rimes) stripper-turned-firefighter son, Blue (Hunter McVey).
“It’s really clever and funny,” O’Donnell said of Blue’s introduction (Blue will hop into action on the job as a stripper after witnessing an emergency). The reveal of Don as Blue’s father is something O’Donnell said Ryan will have difficulty with, telling the outlet that his onscreen son’s “anger and shock is a lot to get over.”
O’Donnell also weighed in on the possibility of a 9-1-1: Nashville and 9-1-1 crossover, as the original series previously had a crossover event with 9-1-1: Lone Star.
“I would expect that they would want to do that at some point,” the NCIS: Los Angeles alum shared. “I kind of laughed thinking, well, I’m game for it. You just explain to me how the fire station in Nashville in California overlap together. But I’m sure if that’s what they want to do, they will come up with a storyline that works.”
Lowe, for his part, previously said he’d be down to return as Owen on 9-1-1: Nashville.
“Well, I’ll have to ask Chad Lowe, my brother,” Lowe told Decider in June. “Chad Lowe is the executive producer, director of 9-1-1 Nashville. And so I’m just waiting for my phone to ring. I mean, you know, I hired him on Lone Star. I think turnabout is fair play.” (Chad previously directed episodes of 9-1-1 and 9-1-1: Lone Star, as well as played Rob’s half-brother on the latter series.)
9-1-1: Nashville, Series Premiere, Thursday, October 16, 9/8c, ABC