Despite 911: Lone Star coming to an end, star Rob Lowe has fans' hopes high as he (and the series) seemingly teased his character Owen Strand's TV future.
The hit Fox drama, which spun off of the mainline 911 series, aired its series finale on Monday, February 3, bringing a close to this five-season first responder story.
At the heart of that story has always been Lowe's New York firefighter. The series centers on him as he relocates to Austin, Texas, learning about the community as he saves it along with his fellow firefighters, the local ambulance service, and the police.
Does Owen Strand Die In 911 Lone Star's Finale?
911: Lone Star actor Rob Lowe has not closed the door on a potential future for his Owen Strand character despite Lone Star proper having ended.
The recently released 911: Lone Star series finale leaves things fairly open-ended for Lowe's TV firefighter. While the show itself closed its book fairly definitively, the fate of Lowe's Owen Strand and much of the main cast was left up in the air.
The series finale sees Lowe's Lone Star character alive, leaving the 126 in Austin and heading back to New York City, in a position where he'll be back in action. This could potentially serve as table-setting for the character in some sort of future series, perhaps lining up the pieces for him to appear in yet another 911 spin-off.
Rob Lowe Teases 911 Future
In the wake of the series finale, Lowe himself teased that he may not be done with the TV universe. "Never say never," Lowe told TV Insider, saying he is "open to anything:"
"I mean, I never say never. I never say never. And I would be open to anything as long as it is not trying to be a cheaper, on low budget knockoff of what we worked so hard to establish. I think we leave a legacy, not to put too fine a point on it, on storytelling, big spectacle, big cast, great actors, stars, and if there’s an appetite for that that still exists. I’m down."
In an interview with Variety, Lowe shared a similar sentiment, remarking that he learned a long time ago to never count out any possibility as long as it "continue[s] to have the kind of production value hallmarks that we’re really proud of:"
"I never say never to anything. I learned that a long time ago. It’s always a function of, what’s the story, what’s the script, who’s doing it, how good is the show? Is it a cheaper, wannabe version, or is it going to continue to have the kind of production value hallmarks that we’re really proud of, that we did on our show? Who knows? We’ll have to see what everything looks like."
Showrunner Rashad Raisani seemingly kept this open-ended storyline in mind for many of Lone Star's characters.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Raisani admitted that for five seasons, fans have "[seen] these characters [go] through hell," so why not "allow these people to emerge, and give the audience a message of hope at the end of it:"
"My ultimate feeling was, 'It's hard enough that the show's ending too early. That, to me, was the real loss. So why not allow these people to emerge, and give the audience a message of hope at the end of it? Letting them see these characters went through hell, but they came out the other side. I wanted to leave them with that instead of, 'The show is over and, just so you know, TK (Tyler Kennedy) is dead,' or something like that."
"We all kind of felt that having a more character-driven culmination as opposed to an event-driven culmination," Lowe added in that same interview, saying they "went out in the right way:"
"We all kind of felt that having a more character-driven culmination as opposed to an event-driven culmination actually did more of a service to his character, and to the audience's embracing of that character. I think you wrap things up based on a character's history and what they represent. So for Tony Soprano, I think he went out in the right way. And I think Owen Strand, based on who he was, went out in the right way."
All that is to say, the possibility of an Owen Strand return is out there, but it is not currently being talked about. Lowe made it clear is ready to take on the 911: Lone Star character yet again, should the opportunity arise, it just has to do the original series justice.
As for why the series had to say goodbye when it did, it largely had to do with budget, as the show's production cost continued to balloon (read more about why 911: Lone Star was canceled).
911: Lone Star is now streaming on Hulu.
