This article contains spoilers for the September 23 episode of “9-1-1: Lone Star.”
“9-1-1: Lone Star” returned to Fox on Monday night with a massive train derailment accident and a major cast change: As previously announced, Grace Ryder, played by original actor Sierra McClain, is no longer part of the series.
In the season 5 premiere, her husband Judd Ryder (Jim Parrack) explained why she is not in Austin with him and their daughter Charlie: The ever-believing Grace is volunteering for a Christian charity abroad.
Executive producer Rashad Raisani told TheWrap that he would have loved to see her back if the show deserved a sixth season. “I absolutely want to say I love Sierra McClain. I think she’s essential to the DNA of the show and there’s no replacement for her, period,” he said of writing around her character’s absence.
“We found ourselves in a situation where she just wasn’t available to us. So we said, ‘Okay, the show has to go on. So how do we turn this logistical crisis behind the camera into a story crisis?'” Raisani explained.
He added: “As the season goes on, you’ll see her absence, particularly in Judd’s life, grows and becomes a crisis of its own. It gives Jim Parrack a lot more nuance that really comes out in the middle and second half of the season.”
As we learn in the premiere, Carlos Reyes (Rafael Silva) is now a Texas Ranger, like his late father Gabriel. Raisani said of the storyline of the former cop still investigating his father’s murder, “That’s going to be a really big part of our narrative in Season 5.”
He told viewers to prepare for “some insanely crazy episodes where I think people won’t believe that certain episodes aren’t the season finale.”
The train crash – which creates a life-threatening cloud of toxic chemicals – will be explored further in the next two episodes. “Episode 2 is a big action movie and (the next one) starts to feel like a horror movie,” he said, citing classics like “The Fog” and “Halloween” as inspiration for the third installment.
“In Episode 2, it’s our first responders doing their jobs. In Episode 3, they’re the ones who get in trouble. The monster is chasing them. They’re all at the scene of the accident and a huge toxic cloud of death is going to chase them,” Raisani said of the “intense” three-episode story arc, which may be the biggest set piece the show has ever done.
Raisini, who spoke to TheWrap before announcing the show’s cancellation, said, “We really gave it our all. We didn’t hold back.”
“9-1-1: Lone Star” airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.
