‘9-1-1: Lone Star’: How a Deleted Pilot Scene Made Its Way Into Final Season for Significant Owen Storyline

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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for 9-1-1: Lone Star Season 5 Episode 9 “Fall From Grace.”]

When 9-1-1: Lone Star began, Owen (Rob Lowe) was in New York. A job offer then brought him and his son, T.K. (Ronen Rubinstein), to Austin, where he helped rebuild the 126 after a tragedy. And it’s starting to look like his journey could take him full circle.

In the fall finale, he was presented with a job offer: New York City fire chief. As the daughter of a firefighter he worked with explains, the current chief is resigning because since the pandemic, buildings are empty so firehouses are closing, salaries are being slashed, and recruitment and morale are down. A poll was taken for who could pull them out of this, and Owen’s name came up more than any other. While she knows people depend on him in Austin, she has to ask: Who needs him more?

This arc allowed for a scene that was originally shot for the series premiere in 2020 to finally make its way into the show, co-showrunner Rashad Raisani tells TV Insider.

Kevin Estrada / FOX

“It was Owen at Ground Zero, at the 9/11 memorial. We were out there at three o’clock in the morning. We had to shoot at night so it did not affect the hours of visitors. And I had chills standing there watching Rob playing Owen, putting that message in the wall, which is what people do. And it didn’t end up in the pilot, but that never went away from me. For all these years, we’ve had that footage,” he says.

“And so in Episode 9 of the season, we had a chance to put back that promise that Owen made in the pilot, which we cut, to these fallen firefighters. And that was that he would always be there for them. And so as we were looking at what’s the most fitting end to this series, I really was thinking Owen’s first priority coming down to Texas was to get his son healthy and to help his son beat his addiction and survive. And if you look at T.K., he’s doing fantastic,” Raisani continues. “And the firehouse, which had been decimated by this explosion in the pilot and everybody killed, is thriving. And so I think at the top of Episode 9, when that higher calling comes from New York City and he’s reminded of those promises that he made, it just felt, to me, like a beautiful kind of home song for him to give him some full circle and to start thinking about the end of the show and where do we leave Owen, our main character.”

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Though Owen is at first hesitant to accept, he does decide to—until he realizes what’s going on with Judd (Jim Parrack) and knows he needs to stay where he is. At that point, he was “65-35, meaning it’s trending in that direction, that he feels like it’s where he’s needed,” says Raisani. “Owen has always gone where he was needed. And the truth is, as he looks around before he knows about Judd’s drinking, they’re doing pretty good in Austin without him. But the children of these firefighters who died in 9/11, they’re struggling, and I think he’s feeling the call of duty that he needs to make a move as much as emotionally he doesn’t want to go, which is the 35 percent—his heart is with all these firefighters in Austin. But his history is in New York and I think 9/11 never has left. I mean, that’s a fundamental part of Owen’s DNA. And so I think that anything connected to that is going to have a stronger pull than anything that serves what he wants.”

Owen has now turned down the job, but is the door completely closed on that offer? “We’ll see,” is all Raisani would say. “Never say never.”

Do you think 9-1-1: Lone Star should end with Owen going back to New York? Let us know in the comments section below.

9-1-1: Lone Star, Returns, Monday, January 20, 2025, 8/7c, Fox