Spoiler Alert: This review contains spoilers for the series premiere of 9-1-1: Nashville.
Ryan Murphy’s “9-1-1” series released a new spinoff, “9-1-1: Nashville,” on October 9th, aiming to fill the “Lone Star”-shaped hole in fans’ hearts.
Similar to Fox’s “9-1-1: Lone Star” with its cowboy aesthetic, ABC’s “Nashville” features an all-new cast – Chris O’Donnell, Jessica Capshaw, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, LeAnn Rimes, Haley Kilgore, Michael Provost, Juani Feliz and Hunter McVeigh – and a new city and new drama in the personal lives of first responders in the form of long-lost sons. A scheming ex-lover and a jealous brother.
The show will return with a second episode on October 16, picking up right where the series premiere left off with a multi-episode tornado and stadium collapse disaster arc. Sure, the “9-1-1” series has had its share of twists and turns, but showrunner Rashad Raisani (who also served as a writer and producer on “Lone Star”) has assured fans that “Nashville” will be different from its Los Angeles-based parent series “9-1-1” (led by series creator and showrunner Tim Miner) and “Lone Star.” However, the first crossover episode with the lead-in “9-1-1” is in the second episode of “Nashville.”
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“We’re going to have a smaller production that’s closer to the 9-11 time slot coming soon,” Raisani teased to Variety ahead of Episode 2, adding, “We’re planning and looking at ways to make this crossover happen. Whether it’s late in Season 1 or early in Season 2, it’s definitely in the works.”
As for whether Raisani plans to bring the fan-favorite Lone Star character back to Nashville, he said, “I’d be very happy about that,” but added, “It depends on the story and it depends on the actors.”
“We definitely want to have them on board, and I think we’ll balance that with wanting the ‘Nashville’ characters to find their footing with the audience and shine. And once that’s up and running, we can start to integrate some of the other characters.”
Disney/Courtesy of Jake Giles Netter
Raisani noted that it’s “not far off” that Lone Star star Rob Lowe’s Owen ends up in New York at the end of the Fox series, and that Lowe’s brother, Chad Lowe, is also a producer on the “Nashville” set, so “there’s always a possibility.”
Read more about Variety’s debut chat with Raisani on “9-1-1: Nashville” below.
“9-1-1: Nashville” breaks the precedent set by “9-1-1: Lone Star,” which could have become “9-1-1: Austin.” Did you think “9-1-1: Music City” was more in line with your previous selections?
We actually considered a few different titles. And as we got to know the city of Nashville and talked to them, and to be honest, I think there may have been some marketing people, I think “Nashville” said just that. And there was a little bit of ambiguity about Music City, where people thought it was going to be a musical or something based on music. And we didn’t want to say Nashville is all about music. There’s something else really cool and dynamic about it. So I think at the end of the day, we just thought, “Okay, Nashville.” That way, it’s a little more comprehensive than just naming one aspect of the city.
Disney/Courtesy of Jake Giles Netter
Where did the show’s central conflict between Don (Chris O’Donnell), his son Ryan (Michael Provost), and his estranged son Blue (Hunter McVeigh) come from?
Ryan Murphy had that original inspiration. He really wanted to tell a story about a father and son, and the son always feels like he has the perfect family, and then it falls apart in the biggest way. That was Ryan’s initial inspiration for how to approach this whole series, and we decided to follow that. And for me, I’ve always been obsessed with the story of the prodigal son in the Bible, big brother. I always empathize with the brother who feels like, “Hey, what the hell? I’ve done all this work and now I’m being kicked to the curb.” So, it’s always been a very powerful story for me, and when he suggested it, I could understand it right away.
Disney/Courtesy of Jake Giles Netter
How did LeAnn Rimes come on the show to play Dixie, Blue’s mother and Don’s ex-girlfriend who is married to Bryce (Jessica Capshaw)?
She participated the old-fashioned way. The part was just written as Dixie, and she auditioned. And, I’ll never forget, right after she auditioned, she got a call from casting saying, “We saw lightning in a bottle.” When I saw that audition, it was so emotional and incredible. Because, obviously, I’ve known who LeAnn Rimes is for years, but I thought she was unrecognizable as Dixie. It was because even before she spoke, she had a cigarette in her hand and I saw the way she was holding it and I thought, “Oh, yes, this is her.” And she just passed the best audition ever. For me, it was just amazing.
We need to know whether the character name of Dixie’s son Blue was given before or after LeAnn Rimes, whose famous song is titled “Blue,” was cast.
It is truly kismet. Another great line from Ryan Murphy is, “And I think we should name that son Blue, because I think America is ready for a kid named Blue.” That was before I knew Leanne was involved. So I said to her, “Isn’t this weird?” Quite kismet.
How did you decide on the opening mass emergency for “Nashville”?
It was a confluence of things. One of them was a real horror story about a stadium collapse, which was the inspiration for this piece. We were thinking about that, especially since we were making “Lone Star,” but we never thought we could do it with “Lone Star,” either creatively or logistically. So what we were looking for was, what’s the most symbolic way to get into “Nashville”? What’s the most symbolic emergency? That collapse was always in my mind, and I thought maybe we could capitalize on that. And our great partners at ABC said, “Let’s hire someone great. Let’s hire a real singer who can act and be a character on the show, not a fake singer.” And so began his transformation into Kane Brown. And I was like, “Okay, now we’ve done something really exciting.” They’re famous people anyway, they play great songs, and they can play a big part in the resolution of the story.
In the premiere, we got a glimpse of 9-1-1 dispatcher Cammy, played by Kimberly Williams-Paisley. What can you tease about her?
Her character, we call her the Southern heartbeat of the show. Kimberly is so great as Cammy. She’s very sweet, yet has a sarcastic and funny energy. And I just love every phone call she makes. she is so amazing And it turns out Cammy didn’t start out as a 9-1-1 dispatcher. She realized this quite late in her life, in the last five years. She was a music producer but switched careers to try to make the world a better place after a terrible tragedy that she reveals on the show. She has a lot going on beneath the surface.
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In the premiere, Don decides to let his long-lost son, Blue, work at the fire department with him and his other son, Ryan, because of the cadet program that allows for on-the-job training. Is it a real program? And even “9-1-1” feels crazy, so how could this work on the show?
The cadet program is a real program and it is. Now, the part that says, “OK, that’s usually done in extreme emergencies. It’s the fire of all fires.” So Don is technically correct, it exists. But so does Ryan, it’s crazy. And in some episodes the fire chief would say, “That’s crazy.” That’s not acceptable. I know it’s going to hurt the fans. But the big thing we’re trying to get at is that Don’s guilt is making him do things that he shouldn’t necessarily do in the first place as a captain. That was the trigger.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
