9-1-1 Lone Star Boss Reveals Why That Death Had to Happen
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9-1-1: Lone Star said goodbye to Charles Vega in the final episodes of its second season, and the move signaled a lot of pushback for its showrunner.
Tim Minear opened up about the controversial plot twist that found Derek Webster's character in an unresponsive state, only to be found by his wife Tommy Vegas (Gina Torres).
Tim Minear shed light on the decision in an interview with TV Line.
"It was not a no-brainer. In fact, I got a lot of pushback from different quarters," he shared, adding:
"It's not like Derek's people told me I couldn't have him next year."
Minear felt that the story helped give Tommy even more storylines due to the decision.
"You know my philosophy: Why wait?"
"My staff goes insane because I always pull up story points and say, 'We're just going to go right to it.' If you look at the serial arsonist episode, you'd normally wait until the end to reveal who it was, but I was like, 'We're going to reveal it in the middle.'"
"On one hand, killing off Derek seemed like a gamble, but was it really? I knew I'd be giving Gina Torres an acting showcase."
While the move to kill Derek proved to be controversial with the fans, it will be exciting to see how the series pivots to show the aftermath on 9-1-1: Lone Star Season 3.
FOX picked up Season 3 of 9-1-1: Lone Star last month, coming off another strong season in the ratings.
But there's some bad news:
The third season is not set to hit the air until midseason 2022, where it will replace 9-1-1 after it concludes its fall run.
The best part of the long break is that fans should get a relatively uninterrupted run in 2022.
What are your thoughts on the decision to kill Derek?
Hit the comments.
Remember, you can watch 9-1-1: Lone Star online right here via TV Fanatic.
Paul Dailly was an Associate Editor for TV Fanatic.Follow him on X.