Sierra McClain will exit the Fox drama as dispatcher Grace Ryder after four seasons.
9-1-1: Lone Star will be without its main dispatcher for the long-awaited fifth season. According to Deadline, Sierra McClain will be leaving the Fox drama ahead of Season 5 after portraying 9-1-1 dispatcher Grace Ryder since the pilot episode. The actress and singer had “quietly left” after cast renegotiations, which also come as the series is rumored to end after the upcoming season. As of now, details surrounding how her on-screen departure are unknown, but with Lone Star returning in the fall after an over year-long delay due to strikes, it shouldn’t be much longer until information emerges.
Grace was one of the first characters that Lone Star viewers first met in the pilot episode in 2020. As a dispatcher, she is on the other end of the call and helps people in their most dire situations as they wait for help to come to them. Unfortunately, she hasn’t been able to help everyone, but even when she can’t, she still makes sure to let them know she is there until the end. She is the wife of Jim Parrack’s firefighter Judd Ryder, and in Season 2, an episode focused all on the origin of their love story, which was truly love at first sight.
In Season 3, Grace gave birth to a baby girl named Charlie, and fans were finally able to see Judd and Grace as parents. Fans were also able to see in the following season McClain’s sisters, Lauryn and China joining her as Grace’s sisters. The trio, known as The McClain Sisters and Thriii, even sang Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile” to their on-screen father in the hospital.
As a dispatcher, Grace has also had some pretty memorable moments, both heartfelt and hilarious. She helped a dying astronaut connect with his wife and daughter before he died of radiation poisoning in space, she had to act as a dominatrix over the phone in order to help someone out of a pretty tight situation, and she also could sense a domestic abuse situation from a faux pizza order. It will surely be hard to replace her, but it will be interesting to see how takes up the dispatcher mantle next.
As for how the show will address Grace’s exit, it’s hard to tell which way the story will go. The obvious one would be killing her off, which would greatly impact the overall story. It’s possible that she could also be going away, either for her parents or her sisters or because she wants to explore a different career. Lone Star could also just keep things going but not have her appear on screen. Either by not showing much of Judd’s home life or having the two of them work very different schedules. Not much is known about 9-1-1: Lone Star Season 5, but it will be interesting and maybe even heartbreaking to see how Sierra McClain, and Grace Ryder, exit the series. Tune in this fall on Fox.
