Well, after a lot of speculation, it's been confirmed that 9-1-1: Lone Star will be added to the ever-growing list of shows canceled or ending, as it’s now set to conclude with Season 5. However, while it's a bummer that the upcoming season, which is set to air on the 2024 TV schedule, will also be its final, it's not surprising news.
After a lot of rumors regarding Season 5 being its final one, Deadline confirmed that the show will not return to Fox for a sixth season. As it stands, the last episodes will begin airing on Fox on September 23, and the series finale will drop in early 2025.
You can watch new episodes of 9-1-1: Lone Star on Fox starting September 23. To go back and watch old episodes, you can stream them with a Hulu subscription.
Rumors regarding the show ending started in June. After the writers' and actors' strikes delayed the fifth season, and pushed it back a year, reports started swirling that bad news could be headed down the pipeline for Lone Star.
Overall, the writing has been on the wall for a while. For example, Sierra McClain announced her departure from the 9-1-1 spinoff after alleged unsuccessful negotiations. It was also reported earlier this summer that other members of the cast were in contract negotiations that didn’t end well. Therefore, it was reported that the ensemble expected the upcoming 12-episode season to be their last.
On top of that, there were social media messages from the cast that seemed to allude to the impending end.
Deadline noted that Lone Star is not a cheap show to make either, and it is above Fox’s desired $3 to $4 million per episode budget for dramas. The network also pays a licensing fee for the series, however, the report explained that “the Disney-owned 20th TV has been running a ‘deficit,’ covering the gap between the size of the licensing fee and what it costs to make the series.” Apparently, that played into the choice to delay Season 5 last year, and it could have impacted the decision to end the series after the upcoming episodes.
Also, while it’s fair to ask questions about if Lone Star will jump to ABC like 9-1-1 did, it was clarified that that will not be happening.
Along with the announcement, Fox's president Michael Thorn released a statement about Lone Star ending and what can be expected from Season 5:
From the start, fans have followed the heroic and deeply moving stories of the men and women who make up Austin’s 126, so a huge thanks to one of the greatest creative teams in all of television — Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Tim Minear — for creating one of the most action-packed dramas anywhere. Now in our final season of the show, we’re set to give it the high-stakes send-off it deserves, complete with breathless rescues, insurmountable odds and relatable personal struggles, thanks to our incomparable, stellar cast led by Rob Lowe and Gina Torres.
Overall, while it’s a bummer that this drama is coming to a close, at least they get to truly end it. They know what’s coming, and as Rob Lowe has said, this season will be “like mini-movies every week.” So, I think it’s safe to say that Lone Star will go out with a bang.
Plus, while the series is ending, the franchise is still going strong, as its flagship show, 9-1-1 is still airing and will premiere on September 26 on ABC.
In the end, yes this news is sad. However, at least it’s not a surprise, and we can fully take in Lone Star’s final season when it premieres on Fox at 8 p.m. ET on Monday, September 23.
