Production on the 12-episode fifth season of 9-1-1: Lone Star is currently in full swing. Speculation is rife that this will be the series' final season without one of its regular cast members, Sierra McClain (pictured below), who quietly left after drama surrounding the cast renegotiation, sources have learned.
“So excited to be a part of @911lonestar’s final season!! What a ride it’s been!,” Robyn Lively, who has recurred on the show as Marlene Harrism the mother of Judd’s (Jim Parrack) son, wrote on social media earlier this week before deleting the post.
That's a sentiment we've also heard from other cast members of 9-1-1: Lone Star, with several regular cast members actively looking for new jobs.
As Fox Entertainment CEO Rob Wade told the media last month, the network hoped to make a decision on a renewal after seeing how season five of 9-1-1: Lone Star would do this fall. That probably won't be possible.
The cast has options until production on the new season wraps on July 19, the sources said. From what we've heard, the options are unlikely to be extended, so the fate of the series will likely be determined sooner. There is some hope for the network to find a way to continue 9-1-1: Lone Star, but most signs point to season five being the final chapter. Representatives for Fox and 9-1-1: Lone Star producer 20th Television declined comment.
Most of the series' leading actors were under the impression that the drama would end at the end of last year, after two failed attempts to renegotiate the contract.
Representatives for the actors first approached 20th Television two years ago about securing raises through renegotiations ahead of season four. Regular actors in a series sign six-year contracts with built-in marginal salary increases. In successful series, it is common for substantial increases to be renegotiated during the term of the contracts, usually involving the addition of an additional year to the contracts.
The attempt was rejected and the studio pushed the renegotiations to after season four. But when the actors tried to renegotiate a year later, the studio wouldn't do it, the sources said. Following the end of the strikes, which put all talks on hold for months, cast representatives were told that there would be no renegotiations, indicating that season five would be the series' last. The actors were offered some additional compensation, described to sources as bonuses.
Those sources heard that this was a "take it or leave it" situation, which was disputed by other sources. After some back-and-forth, the studio and original cast member McClain, who was also offered money, parted ways, the sources said. Representatives for McClain did not respond to a request for comment.
9-1-1: Lone Star cast members have been privately sharing since late last year what Lively (briefly) said publicly this week: that they had been told Lone Star would end with season five, and that at least some of them met and auditioned for other projects.
The cast hasn't been officially released yet — as we noted, their options don't expire until July 19 — so if they book a new series regular role, they'll have to ask for a waiver from 9-1-1: Lone Star to get that to take.
9-1-1: Lone Star leading man Rob Lowe has another relationship with 20th Television and Fox. He is executive producer of the series and has a first-look deal with the network where he is also host and executive producer of game show The Floor. Sources report that if Fox tries to bring the series back after the cast's options expire, it would be willing to return.
Like 20th TV's relationship with the cast, the studio's relationship with Fox is also complicated. Following the Disney-Fox deal, the two parties are no longer affiliated and it has been more difficult to reach agreements on their existing drama series, including a dramatic last-minute renewal just minutes before the 2022 Fox Upfront presentation.
A year later, Fox's flagship series, 9-1-1, moved to 20th TV sister network ABC and The Resident was canceled, leaving 9-1-1: Lone Star as the only remaining 20th TV drama on Fox. The network will continue to air 20th TV's animated series The Simpsons, Family Guy and Bob's Burgers.
“The economics weren't going to work out for us for this series,” Wade said of 9-1-1 when the series jumped to ABC in May 2023. "It was decided there that the business model was not good for us and that 20th would take back the series."
While not as expensive as 9-1-1, spinoff Lone Star, Fox's new flagship drama, has similar economics, so its long-term future at the network has been in doubt since 9-1-1's departure. That got even worse after media outlets revealed in November that 9-1-1: Lone Star would no longer air new episodes in the 2023-24 season.
As reported at the time, Fox had lobbied for an order of eighteen episodes, six episodes for the midseason and twelve for the fall, but ultimately settled for twelve episodes in the fall of 2024, citing strike-related production delays.
Like the main series of 9-1-1, Lone Star is a big, big-budget drama, requiring extensive pre- and post-production time, including significant VFX work. Still, 9-1-1 was able to deliver ten episodes for ABC this season, including a cruise ship disaster, so the strike argument doesn't really hold water (though such a quick turnaround for two dramas of this caliber would be incriminating for the 9-1-1 franchise team).
Plus, Lone Star's economics aren't great for 20th Television. As a season five broadcast series, 9-1-1: Lone Star is deficit-financed by the studio, with Fox, which does not own it, paying a licensing fee, something the network has been willing to continue doing. That means Disney-owned 20th TV is covering "shortfalls" in making the series, which are likely in the seven figures per episode given the size of 9-1-1: Lone Star.
The business framework improves when a series comes from a vertically integrated studio, but in the case of 9-1-1: Lone Star, we're hearing that if the series doesn't continue on Fox, it will likely be the end of the road, with no talk of a move to ABC to join the mothership 9-1-1.
During Fox's Upfront presentation last month, Wade was asked about the future of 9-1-1: Lone Star on the network and whether the upcoming 12-episode fifth season could be its last.
“Lone Star was was not on the schedule this year because of the strike, and we’re really looking forward to getting it back on in the fall,” Wade said. “We are excited about the new season. We’re going to see how that goes as always, and then make decisions on that about the future of that franchise.”
That decision - whenever it comes - will have to be made together with 20th Television.
9-1-1: Lone Star, produced by 20th Television in association with Ryan Murphy Television and Brad Falchuk Teley-Vision, provides a glimpse into the lives of the police, fire and ambulance services of Company 126 in Austin.
The series stars Lowe, Gina Torres, Ronen Rubinstein, Jim Parrack, Natacha Karam, Brian Michael Smith, Rafael Silva, Julian Works, Brianna Baker and Kelsey and Skyler Yates.
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