9-1-1: Lone Star might’ve been canceled after five seasons earlier this year, but that doesn’t mean Rob Lowe has said goodbye to Captain Owen Strand forever.
Per @911TVNEWS, eagle-eyed 9-1-1 fans recently spotted Chad Lowe, Rob’s IRL brother who also played his on-screen brother in 9-1-1: Lone Star, on the set of 9-1-1: Nashville, which ABC announced after Lone Star‘s cancellation. When DECIDER recently caught up with Rob to talk about his Atkins partnership, he confirmed that his younger brother is an executive producer and director of the upcoming 9-1-1 spinoff series.
When asked whether he’d ever reprise his role as Owen Strand, Rob said, “Well, I’ll have to ask Chad Lowe, my brother. See, all my family are gatekeepers to my own future business now.” (Rob also co-created and co-starred in Netflix’s Unstable with his son John Owen Lowe, which was canceled after two seasons).
“Chad Lowe is the executive producer, director of 9-1-1 Nashville. And so I’m just waiting for my phone to ring,” Rob continued, noting that he helped get Chad his role as Robert Strand in 9-1-1: Lone Star. “I mean, you know, I hired him on Lone Star. I think turnabout is fair play.”
Though 9-1-1: Nashville details are scarce and an official fall 2025 premiere date has yet to be announced, ABC revealed that Chris O’Donnell will star as fire captain and rodeo rider Don Sharpe, who runs a firehouse with his son. (Sound familiar, Lone Star fans?) The series will also star Grey’s Anatomy‘s Jessica Capshaw, country music star LeAnn Rimes, Kimberly Williams-Paisley (also married to country star Brad Paisley), Hailey Kilgore, Michael Provost, Juani Feliz, and influencer Hunter McVey.
Though it’s unclear what events could bring Rob’s character Owen to Nashville after Lone Star‘s series finale, an appearance of some sort is always possible, because Strand ended the series alive. Tragically, the same can’t be said for 9-1-1‘s Captain Bobby Nash (Peter Krause), who was unexpectedly killed off in the flagship show’s eighth season.
While Rob acknowledged that Krause was “irreplaceable” in the series, he also feels that 9-1-1 showrunner Tim Minear “did a really smart thing” by saying goodbye to the beloved character.
“It’s kind of like a baseball team. You know what it’s like? I’ll tell you what it’s like. It’s like the Pittsburgh Pirates right now. They better trade Paul Skenes, their best player. It’ll hurt them in the short term, but it’ll help them in the long run,” the St. Elmo’s Fire star said. “Sometimes you have to shake it up, or a show or a team just incrementally fades away. And boy, did they shake it up. So I’m bullish on it.”
While we wait to see if the Lowe brothers will reunite on 9-1-1: Nashville, read on to learn what we know about the upcoming spin-off and hear 9-1-1 star Anirudh Pisharody’s hopes for a crossover episode between the OG the new series.
9-1-1 Season 8 is currently streaming on Hulu with Season 9 and 9-1-1: Nashville set to premiere in fall 2025.