This article contains spoilers for the series finale of “9-1-1: Lone Star.”
“9-1-1: Lone Star,” aired its series finale on Monday night and, sadly, two potential spinoffs at Fox never came to pass: One starring couple TK (Ronen Rubinstein) and Carlos (Rafael Silva) (also know by their fandom nickname “Tarlos”) and one centered around Owen Strand (Rob Lowe) in New York.
“Lone Star” showrunner Rashad Raisani told TheWrap that he was “desperate” to get the Tarlos series off the ground and hopes that it might still happen. He also explained that one of the reasons he didn’t kill off any of the main characters in the Austin-set series is that he hopes they can show up in ABC’s upcoming “9-1-1” offshoot, which is currently in development.
“9-1-1” moved to ABC for Season 7 and the new spinoff will also be set up at ABC, but Fox was not interested in continuing the franchise. (The city for the new spinoff hasn’t been announced yet, but Raisani previously told TheWrap it’s not Hawaii, Seattle or Chicago.)
Here’s what Raisani told us about the two first-responder series that might have been:
TheWrap: What would this potential Tarlos series have been about?
Rashad Raisani: I had been desperately trying to get some steam going for a Tarlos thing with the Texas Rangers, and it just couldn’t quite get the corporate liftoff. In my mind, if Carlos got stationed in a new city in Texas as a Texas Ranger, and TK and Jonah went to El Paso, or went to some other city, and just tell a new story that way.
Why didn’t it happen?
It was because of the same issues that plagued “Lone Star,” meaning that we had a different network partner than a studio partner. And even though we’d all started under the same roof, by the end of the series, we were a child of divorce, and that was just a recurrent obstacle.
If you put it to a public vote, I’m pretty sure a Tarlos spin off would do really well.
Never say never. I pushed and pushed, and I’m not done pushing. I still believe in it very much.
And the actors would be down for that, potentially?
While they’re available. These guys are pretty successful, so I’m sure there’s a lot of people running to get them on their shows and movies. I think creatively, they were passionate about it. But the longer it goes, the harder it would be to to get them while they’re still available . I absolutely would love to be writing this. I love those actors. They’re like my little brothers. I would love to keep it going.
With Owen going to New York, was there ever a plan for New York to be the setting for the new spin-off?
When I was pitching it to Rob, I just said, “Look the beautiful thing about that is, one, it’s completely true to who he is. Two, it’s the biggest job there is in firefighting in America. And three, if there’s ever a spinoff in New York, they have to go through you, my friend.” He’s like, “Let’s do it.” He was loving the idea of New York. Certainly, if something goes through New York, it wouldn’t be the worst thing to have Captain Strand up there
Could we see “Lone Star” characters on any of the other “9-1-1” series after this?
Part of the reason why I wanted them all to be standing at the end of the series was if, God willing, there’s some way to get one of them to LA for the 118 or the new city, we could still have Captain Judd, or we could have Mateo or Nancy could visit or whoever. I really would love that. I just don’t feel done talking. having these people talk, I love hearing all of their voices.
“9-1-1: Lone Star” is now streaming on Hulu.
