Ryan Murphy addressed the unfortunate cancellation of 9-1-1: Lone Star, the spinoff of the popular 9-1-1 series starring Rob Lowe that premiered in 2020 on Fox. The show, which highlights the lives of first responders in Austin, Texas, was set to go into its fifth season. While the main 9-1-1 series continued on ABC after Fox’s cancellation and recently began its eighth season, 9-1-1: Lone Star premiered its final season on September 23. The final season will run for 12 episodes and will see the return of familiar cast members including the likes of Lowe, Ronen Rubinstein, Jim Parrack, Natacha Karam, Brian Michael Smith, Rafael L. Silva, and Julian Works.
In an interview with Variety, Murphy — who co-created both 9-1-1 and Lone Star with Tim Minear and Brad Falchuk — explained the reasons behind the beloved show’s cancellation, citing financial challenges to keep it going. He mentioned that the difficulties were due to the fact that it was a Disney-run show but on the Fox network, implying that there was some sort of mismatch in the corporate structure that prevented the two from working together.
Although Lone Star has ended, the series will continue with the original 9-1-1 series and a new spinoff set in a “new city,” as Murphy revealed in the conversation. He suggested that Lone Star’s end was inevitable. Here’s Murphy’s full statement: “Sadly, we all love ‘Lone Star,’ but the financials just don’t work. It’s a Disney company that used to be on Fox and it was never going to work. And we’ve had that for a long time. So now we’re launching a new show in a new city that I can’t name, but it’s exciting.”
Well, it does and it doesn’t. As Murphy explained, in addition to the typical financial challenges that long-running TV shows often face, a major issue with continuing 9-1-1: Lone Star is the fact that it’s affiliated with two different companies. 20th Television is now part of Disney Television Studios, while the show airs on Fox, which was dropped when Disney made its blockbuster acquisition of 20th Century Studios a few years ago. The acquisition makes licensing the show more complicated and expensive than it was when Fox originally produced it.
9-1-1: Lone Star will air on Fox until it concludes later this year.
