Rob Lowe posted a picture of himself in full LAFD firefighting gear and sent out an Instagram post last July that alerted his fans that he was “Training with the Los Angeles Fire Department for my new show 9-1-1: Lone Star. Gonna be great stories of real heroes, our first responders. Coming this January on Fox TV.”
Rob Lowe & Liv Tyler star in ‘9-1-1: Lone Star.’ (Photos courtesy FOX)
Well January is here, and the actor, who has a wicked sense of humor about himself and his heartthrob good looks, is on the air with 9-1-1: Lone Star starting January 19, 2020, on Fox.
The series is a spin-off of Fox TV’s action-packed series 9-1-1 that follows the lives of Los Angeles first responders: police officers, paramedics, firefighters and dispatchers. It’s a great show, and now 9-1-1: Lone Star follows in its heroic heart-pounding footsteps.
“9-1-1: Lone Star,” stars & creative team at TCA press tour
The show’s creative team appeared at the Television Critics Association’s winter 2020 press tour at the Langham Huntington Hotel in Pasadena. On the TCA panel were executive producer Rashad Raisani; co-creator, exec-producer/showrunner Tim Minear; co-exec-producer and star Rob Lowe; plus co-stars Liv Tyler, Ronen Rubinstein, Sierra McClain, Jim Parrack, Brian Michael Smith, and Rafael Silva. All were excited to talk about putting the spotlight on the lives of first responders.
The producers explained the premise of the show: Nearly 20 years ago, Owen Strand (Rob Lowe) was the lone survivor of his Manhattan firehouse on 9/11. In the wake of the attack, Owen had the unenviable task of rebuilding his station. After a similar tragedy happens to a firehouse in Austin, Owen, along with his troubled firefighter son, T.K. (Ronen Rubinstein), takes his firefighting skills down to Texas, where he helps them start anew. Also working out of the Austin station house is chief paramedic Michelle Black (Liv Tyler). On the surface, Owen is all about big-city style and swagger, but underneath he struggles with a secret that could end his life.
Lowe, who has made his mark on TV in Parks and Recreation and The West Wing, is happy to shoulder the heavy duty life-saving gear of the first responders for his role because he has encountered them in his personal life.
Lowe said, “Fortunately I live in Santa Barbara. It’s a great place to live. But unfortunately, my neighborhood has suffered horrendous wildfires and flash flooding and loss of life in the last two years, so I’ve had real, truly up-close and personal interactions with first responders. I had them staged at my house. I was feeding them food.”
“For me, what I found interesting and important, was anyone can tell you how to swing the ax or use the Jaws of Life. And we have people on the show that do that, but I was really interested in ‘the why’ these men and women do what they do. What does it mean to them, how do they go and sleep in the dirt for weeks on end, pull the kind of hours. I was hoping to honor that spirit.”
“It was just fortuitous that I had that in my own life leading up to this. It was a sort of good coincidence for prepping the character,” Lowe reported.
Lowe wanted to convincingly play a first responders, so like the rest of the cast, he underwent intense training. “I have done hour upon hour of training so god-forbid someone in this room would have a medical emergency, I could almost help.”
Many of the show’s extras are also first responders, which means Lowe has expert help whenever he needs it.
Tune in the all-new 9-1-1: Lone Star series, premiere episode airing Sunday, January 19, and settling into its regular time slot Monday nights starting January 20 at 8 pm on FOX.
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