‘9-1-1’: Angela Bassett Hopes for ‘Crossover Action’ With New ‘Nashville’ Spinoff

The world of 9-1-1 is expanding next season, with a new spinoff, Nashville, joining ABC’s lineup. That has already been ordered to series, though 9-1-1 has yet to be renewed for Season 9. But assuming the two will be on the air at the same time, there is, of course, hope for a crossover. (9-1-1 and Lone Star joined forces very rarely, with main characters appearing together only on the latter in two episodes of its five-season run.)

But Angela Bassett, who plays Sergeant Athena Grant on 9-1-1 and serves as an executive producer on the original and the spinoff, thinks “it makes some sense” to have a crossover with Nashville.

“We have to see how we do this interstate, how are we gonna play this, what business I have over there?” Bassett told TV Insider while discussing her appearance in the Doctor Odyssey crossover. “But we’ll see if the FBI comes into play, if somebody runs from California to Nashville or vice versa, but yeah, you definitely could have some crossover action going on.”

But it will, of course, come down to scheduling and finances. Lone Star showrunner Rashad Raisani did share two ideas he’d had to bring the Austin and LA firehouses together that didn’t work out.

“One was to have an L.A.-based emergency where the 126 would’ve shown up in support of the L.A. cast because we’d already done one where they’d come to help us. And the second thing, which I always wanted to do, there’s this thing called the International Firefighting Games where firefighters from all over the world send their best to do almost like an Olympics or a Squid Games, whatever you want to call it, of firefighting competitions,” he detailed. “And I always thought it would’ve been really fun to send some of the 126 and have them meet up with some of the 118 from L.A. and then have a real emergency happen while they were doing that fun thing and see them all work together.”

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Chris O’Donnell was the first person cast in the Nashville spinoff. He’ll be playing Captain Don Sharpe, a rugged fire captain and rodeo rider who runs Nashville’s busiest firehouse with his beloved son. Don’s a devoted husband and family man but he has his secrets.

When it came to casting him, executive producer Tim Minear told us, “I think he actually fits into this franchise in an interesting way, and I think it’ll be fun for him, too, because he was so great on NCIS: LA. But I think he’ll be able to do different things on Nashville because we all know Chris O’Donnell is also very funny.”

Minear revealed he’d been following O’Donnell since early in his career. “One of my favorite movies is with him and Jessica Lange. It is called Men Don’t Leave. If you’ve never seen this movie, he plays her son and it is the follow-up from the director who made Risky Business, [Paul Brickman]. I think it’s the only other movie that director directed, and Chris O’Donnell is so good in this movie and Jessica Lange is just lights out great.”

Are you hoping to see a 9-1-1 and Nashville crossover? If so, what would you like to see? Let us know in the comments section below.

9-1-1, Thursdays, 8/7c, ABC

— Additional reporting by Amanda Bell

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