Ryan Murphy opens up about 9-1-1: Lone Star cancellation
9-1-1: Lone Star has been cancelled (Fox)
Writer and producer Ryan Murphy has addressed the cancellation of first responder procedural show 9-1-1: Lone Star.
Deadline reported back in September that the show would come to an end following season five after “two unsuccessful attempts at contract negotiations”.
Fans were understandably disappointed by the news, particularly because power couple Tyler Kennedy “TK” Strand (Ronen Rubinstein) and Carlos Reyes (Rafael Silva) – known by shippers as “Tarlos” – would no longer be on our screens.
In an interview with Variety, Murphy spoke up about the show’s end: “Sadly, we all love Lone Star, but the financials just didn’t work. It’s a Disney company that was on a Fox network, and it was just never going to work. We had a long run of it.”
Rob Lowe, one of the stars of Lone Star, previously said that he and other cast members were very aware that it might end with season five.
“We all went into it pretty much knowing that it was going to be the last season, so that affected everything we did,” Lowe told Variety in August.
“We wanted to really show everybody what is still possible in network television if people have the appetite to do it. It feels like it’s probably the end of an era of a certain type — well, it doesn’t feel like it. It is the end of an era of a certain type of show we once had an opportunity to make, and I think they’re great,” he continued.
Lone Star was praised for its diverse casting and LGBTQ+ characters, winning Outstanding Drama Series at the GLAAD Media Awards previously, particularly for the relationship of “Tarlos” as well as the character of Paul Strickland (Brian Michael Smith) who is Black and trans.
While Lone Star is ending, Murphy’s 9-1-1 universe will continue to expand. The original 9-1-1 is set in Los Angeles while Lone Star is set in Austin, Texas, but Murphy has his sights set on other cities across the U.S.
“[Co-creator] Tim Minear and I are working on a new spinoff that we’re actually writing about, and we hope to get on the air next fall. So now we’re going to launch a new show in a new city that I can’t name, but it’s fun. [The fans] obviously have an appetite for [the shows], so we’re going to give them another one that I really love.”
Season five of 9-1-1: Lone Star airs every Monday on Fox.
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