Chris O’Donnell was never planning to lead another network procedural. But earlier this year, shortly after the Los Angeles wildfires ravaged his Pacific Palisades neighborhood, the NCIS: Los Angeles alum received an enticing offer from prolific writer-producer Ryan Murphy to play a fire captain in a new extension of the 9-1-1 universe — this time, set and shot in Music City.
“Having just done 14 years in Los Angeles — which was the greatest gift of all time, and that show came up when I had five kids in school — and given that my town had just burned to the ground, picking up and moving to Nashville almost sounded too good to be true, frankly,” O’Donnell told TV Guide. “At the time, clearly, it was a 9-1-1 spin-off set in Nashville, but he was still trying to figure out all the exact details. But I just put my faith in Ryan and his team that they would come up with interesting things, and I was ready to go.”
Prior to signing on to 9-1-1: Nashville, which premieres Thursday on ABC, O’Donnell admitted that he “didn’t know a ton” about the franchise. But on occasion, while flipping through the channels at home, he would come across an episode of 9-1-1: Lone Star, which starred his old golf buddy Rob Lowe.
“When this first came up and we were talking about it, I ran into Rob and I asked him, ‘How is it?’ He goes, ‘I love it.’ He was so bummed out that they canceled the show,” O’Donnell recalled. “He’s like, ‘I would’ve done that show forever.’ I’m like, ‘Wow.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, they’re great people. It’s so much fun — just the whole energy.’ He was so excited about the whole idea. It made it sound very appealing.”
ALSO READ: Chris O’Donnell breaks down the series premiere of 9-1-1: Nashville
Co-created by Murphy, longtime 9-1-1 franchise boss Tim Minear, and Lone Star showrunner Rashad Raisani, the new Nashville spin-off will deliver the same daring rescues, outlandish emergencies, and high-octane natural disasters as its predecessors — with O’Donnell’s fire captain (and former rodeo rider) Don Hart leading his station through a tornado in the series premiere. But in order to carve out its own identity, the new installment will incorporate a lot more soapy family drama in the vein of Dynasty and Succession, as well as some country music from popular artists like Kane Brown. (Just don’t expect O’Donnell to pick up the mic anytime soon.)
Family has remained a core tenet of the 9-1-1 universe, but 9-1-1: Nashville takes that theme to the next level. In the jam-packed premiere, viewers will meet Don’s wife, Blythe (Jessica Capshaw), a high-powered businesswoman who comes from decades of generational wealth in the South; their son, Ryan (Michael Provost), who chose to follow in his father’s footsteps rather than joining his mother’s horse-racing empire; and Blythe’s sister, 911 dispatcher Cammie Raleigh (Kimberly Williams-Paisley).
“His wife is a blue blood, and he’s from the other side of the tracks and didn’t grow up with a family. His family at the firehouse is as much a family to him as his wife and his son, and obviously there’s a lot of history that the audience learns about in the first episode here,” said O’Donnell, who also serves as an executive producer. “He tries to be the best man he can, but he’s haunted by some of his past. He knows he’s made some mistakes, and he’s always trying to make up for that.”
One of those mistakes has already been revealed in the trailer. After responding to a call one evening, Don reveals to Ryan that the handsome young man dressed in firefighter turnout gear — which he had procured while dancing at a nearby strip club — is actually Ryan’s half-brother, Blue (Hunter McVey), the son whom Don fathered decades ago in a previous relationship with failed backup singer Dixie (played by country music superstar LeAnn Rimes).
“[D on] knew this was going to really cause problems, and then all of a sudden under these crazy circumstances, they run into each other — and it all comes out,” O’Donnell previewed of Don’s dynamic with his two sons, who will both end up working with him by the end of the premiere. “So I think on the one hand, he knows he’s got an uphill battle trying to explain this to Ryan. But on the other hand, he’s suddenly got a chance with his other son, Blue. He has always wanted to be a part of his life.”
ALSO READ: ABC’s 2025 fall TV schedule
The original 9-1-1 only crossed over with Lone Star a couple of times due to the logistical challenges of trying to combine two very ambitious shows, and the fact that 9-1-1 and 9-1-1: Nashville are now shooting in two different cities will make a crossover even more difficult. However, in an interview about the Lone Star series finale earlier this year, Raisani told TV Guide that he had chosen not to kill off any characters because he wanted to leave the door open to a potential return.
“It’s funny because everyone always talks about a crossover. I’m sure everyone would love to do a crossover,” O’Donnell said, reasoning that Lowe’s Owen Strand could even return someday as the new chief of the FDNY. “You just explain to me how the Tennessee Fire Department and the L.A. Fire Department get together. But I’m sure they’ll come up with the way that works.”
After 14 seasons of playing G. Callen on the longest-running NCIS spin-off, O’Donnell admits that it has been a welcome creative challenge to play someone in a completely new environment, adding that there is one clear difference between his two most recent TV roles. “Don is more wanting to be with everybody and part of the crew. Callen was more of a loner and didn’t really open up to anybody other than Sam [LL Cool J] or Hetty [Linda Hunt]. He kept it pretty closed down,” said O’Donnell. “I think Don’s a little more open and welcoming and trying to be the family guy and the team guy, and he’s more of an open book as far as that’s concerned.”
Trying to launch a brand new show, as well as shooting in a brand new city that he had never really visited, has also been a nice change of pace for O’Donnell. “It’s interesting because there’s so much from just a day-to-day logistics standpoint. We had such a well-oiled machine after 14 years,” he said. “But then you’re starting up on a new show, and it’s all new faces and you’re filming in Nashville as opposed to Los Angeles, so you’ve got some incredible local talent that’s coming in, but then there’s also some spots where it’s not as experienced as maybe a Los Angeles crew, so you’re trying to make sure that you’re smooth on all fronts.
“But then again, it’s so exciting to have a new city to film in. I feel like we’ve shot in every possible location in Los Angeles on the last show, so just to be in a new city is so exciting — and change is good,” he continued. “I mean, my God, it’s good to just mix it up a little bit, and I’m loving the people we’re working with and there’s good energy on the set, and we’re hoping the fans tune in and enjoy it as much as we enjoy making it.”
O’Donnell also wanted to take a moment to shout out his former NCIS: LA boss R. Scott Gemmill, who recently won his first Emmy for creating The Pitt. “I always say our fans love our show. Some people don’t take it seriously and it is what it is, and that’s fine, but for the people that watch it, we’re doing some good stuff, and I would say, ‘This Scott Gemmill is prolific. He can just crank out these scripts, and if something’s not right, he can tweak it and make it great,'” he said. “And then he comes out and wins for The Pitt. I’m just so proud of him and happy for him. He just totally deserves that.”
O’Donnell’s starring role on Nashville also brings him back to ABC for the first time since his short yet memorable stint as Finn “McVet” Dandridge — Meredith Grey’s (Ellen Pompeo) first boyfriend after she broke up (temporarily) with Patrick Dempsey’s Dr. Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd — on Grey’s Anatomy in 2006. Nearly 20 years later, O’Donnell still lights up at the mention of one of the lesser-known roles from his filmography. (“Finn Dandridge! I think I delivered a horse on TV,” he laughs.)
ALSO READ: The complete guide to fall TV
Reflecting on his experience on Grey’s, O’Donnell credits series creator Shonda Rhimes for giving him a boost after a self-imposed break from Hollywood. After building up an impressive résumé of film credits in the ’90s (Scent of a Woman, Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, Men Don’t Leave, Fried Green Tomatoes, Circle of Friends, Mad Love), the actor decided to step back from the business to raise his young children with his wife. By the time he returned, much of the interest that others had taken in his career had waned.
“At the time, I think they called my manager about somebody else and he wasn’t available. He said, ‘Hey, Chris would probably like to do something like that.’ And he’s like, ‘Do you want to do this?’ I’m like, ‘I’ve never even heard of the show, but I could do this,'” he recalled. “I really wasn’t that familiar with the show, and then I got on it. But when the first [episode] aired, I couldn’t believe how much buzz there was around it. I’ve never experienced any immediate feedback like that in my life.
“I remember I used to go to this gym class in Brentwood, and everyone would be buzzing. They’d be dying to hear feedback from me because you kind of know everybody. I’m like, ‘Oh my God, everyone’s watching this thing,'” he continued. “People were so passionate about it, and it was amazing. But because I wasn’t watching this as a regular fan, the whole drama and stuff, I didn’t know what I was stepping into. But that’s what these shows are. Of course there’s going to be drama there!”
O’Donnell, however, always felt that his time on the medical drama was going to be limited. “They were interested in me hanging out longer. I was not interested because I was like 10th on the [call sheet]. I’m like, ‘Where does this go?'” he explained.
“In my career, I had always been one of the main characters and that sort of thing, and I just saw an opportunity. This has been a great boost at this time in my career, and I want to go use it to go do something else, because I just don’t want to be buried in a gigantic cast,” he added. “I had a great experience. They all couldn’t have been nicer, but it was never going to be my show — and there were so many stars on it. And I said, ‘This is great, but I should go try and start or launch my own thing.'”
This fall, 9-1-1: Nashville — led by Grey’s alums O’Donnell and Capshaw — will serve as the lead-in for the record-extending 22nd season of Grey’s. How’s that for a full-circle moment?
9-1-1: Nashville premieres Thursday at 9/8c on ABC. Episodes stream the next day on Hulu.
