If you enjoyed the happy, full-circle ending of 9-1-1: Lone Star‘s series finale, you have Rob Lowe to not thank for it. If the star and executive producer had his way, the Fox procedural would have ended on a very different, much darker note.
As it is, the finale ended with Lowe’s character, Captain Owen Strand, successfully preventing a nuclear reactor from melting down after being hit by an asteroid. The episode really wanted us to think that Owen sacrificed himself to save the city, but after several gratuitous fake-outs, we learned that he actually moved to New York, where he’s now serving as the NYFD’s new fire chief.
“Oh, I pitched the possibility of Owen going out in a blaze of glory 100%,” Lowe tells TVLine. “I pitched one of those amazingly emotional hero’s walks where Owen dies and then he’s given the hero’s walk in the hospital and everyone’s clapping.”
Ultimately, Team Lone Star decided that “it’s sad enough that we have to mourn the death of a show that’s still in its prime, let’s not also mourn the death of a character.” And just like that, Owen was saved.
“We thought, instead of having him walk off into the sunset, let’s have him walk off to the sunrise in the east,” Lowe adds. “He completed the impetus for the show — he rebuilt the 126 into a family, and he rejuvenated his own family. Mission completed. Now it’s time for Owen to figure out what his next chapter is.”
So, what’s next for Lowe after putting down his firefighter helmet? “I’ve been trying to work my way through all the members of the Village People,” he jokes. “I think construction worker might be next. No, I have an inkling that it’d be fun to do a show about the Secret Service, a political thriller with a lot of action. I also wouldn’t mind doing something in the Taylor Sheridan universe. I only did one Western in my life, and I had such a great time doing it. Any time Owen got to wear a cowboy hat or be on a horse, I was super excited.”
Still, he’d never say no to reprising the role of Owen, should the opportunity arise someday. “It’s not every day that a show goes off the air still leading in the ratings,” he notes. “There’s a lot of juice left in it, so who knows, maybe someday somebody will figure out a way to do it.”
