Would Rob Lowe Reprise ‘9-1-1: Lone Star’ Role as Owen in the Future After Series Finale?

9-1-1: Lone Star is over, but could Rob Lowe play Owen Strand again in the future?

“I mean, I never say never,” Lowe, 60, told TV Insider on Monday, February 3. “And I would be open to anything as long as it is not trying to be a cheaper or low-budget knockoff of what we worked so hard to establish.”

Lowe could see himself returning to the franchise with the right concept, saying, “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.”

During the series finale, which aired on Monday, Owen shut off a nuclear reactor and saved Austin, Texas, from extinction amid an asteroid striking the city. He was severely hurt and his fate was unknown when the episode flashed forward five months.

“One of the things that [showrunners] Tim Minear and Rashad [Raisani] did so well is that they were honest to who Owen is. And Owen has always been kind of a man on his island. He was the only survivor in his firehouse on 9/11,” Lowe noted. “He’s a widower. He is responsible for people and he is a family man. But at the end of the day, Owen is always kind of alone. And I think that that was nice that played out literally even in the finale.”

The actor was proud of the “full-circle story” for Owen.

“Bringing him back to New York, and there was that attempt to make us think that he might’ve died. Talk about having that be his ending and finale story,” Lowe said about the twist that revealed Owen was alive. “One of the great things storytelling-wise about this world is unfortunately for real first responders, the reality of their lives are that at any given moment, believably and realistically, something could happen to them.”

He continued: “So we always have that at our storytelling fingertips, and we all sort of collectively felt that that was a button we should push in the finale, but not fully. It is sad enough to mourn a show going out. It’s still in its prime. Let’s not also mourn the loss of characters that people love.”

9-1-1 initially premiered on Fox in 2018 and introduced viewers to the professional and personal lives of Los Angeles first responders. After Fox canceled 9-1-1, ABC swooped in and renewed the show for a seventh season. 9-1-1 has continued to find success on ABC, but its first spinoff, 9-1-1: Lone Star, hasn’t had the same luck.

9-1-1: Lone Star followed a New York firefighter who relocated to Texas while trying to balance his job with issues in his own life. Ronen Rubinstein, Sierra McClain, Jim Parrack, Natacha Karam, Brian Michael Smith, Rafael L. Silva, Julian Works and Gina Torres made up the rest of the cast.

While Monday marked the final episode of 9-1-1: Lone Star, the franchise has continued to grow with cocreators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Minear hinting at another location setting the scene for a new spinoff.

“I’m going to miss all the collaborators we had, not just in the amazing cast we have, but the writers and the effects people, the crew, the camera department, the sound department,” Lowe continued on Monday. “They were the best of the best. And I think that’s why the show goes out at the top of its game because this was the A-team. Lone Star was A+, A-caliber network television prestige at its finest.”

Lowe expressed his gratitude for the time he spent on 9-1-1: Lone Star.

“The No. 1 thing I’m going to miss is pulling up to that set every day and marveling at the scope and the scale and the spectacle of what we would routinely do before lunch — other shows wouldn’t be able to do in weeks,” he concluded. “I mean, it looked like a movie every single day. And I don’t know that we will see the likes of this show on network television anytime soon in our new economy. And it was really fun to be a part of it and super proud that we were able to make the show look so big and be so big, week in and week out. I’m really going to miss that.”