‘It’s Bittersweet’: Ronen Rubinstein Reacts to ‘9-1-1: Lone Star’ Cancellation (Exclusive)

9-1-1: Lone Star‘s Ronen Rubinstein spoke to PopCulture.com about the Fox drama’s heartbreaking cancellation. While it was reported over the summer that the Austin-set after the long-awaited upcoming fifth season, it wasn’t confirmed until earlier this month. Premiering on Monday, Season 5 will be the show’s last, with only 12 episodes to close out the show.

Rubinstein’s played firefighter-turned-paramedic T.K. Strand since the beginning and after news broke, he told fans on Instagram that playing the accident-prone and lovable character “has been the greatest honor of my life.” Ahead of the final season premiere, the actor, who hasn’t “really talked publicly to anybody” about the cancellation aside from his online messages, shared his thoughts on the cancellation with PopCulture, noting, “it’s bittersweet, at least, especially knowing that there was a high chance that it could be the last season after the strike.”

“And, man, our show has went through it,” Rubinstein remarked. “As if COVID wasn’t enough. Now we had, like, the biggest strike in Hollywood history, and that derailed everything. No pun intended. Yeah. It’s bittersweet. I think it’s really hard to be too frustrated or too upset about doing five giant seasons of a show that people are actually watching. The fact that it’s nearly 10 million people just in America per week, and then not to mention how global it’s become because of the network, because of Disney+. People have such tremendous access to it.”

Due to the dual Hollywood strikes last year, 9-1-1: Lone Star. Instead of returning during midseason 2024 like much of the television industry, Fox put the show on hold for the 2024-25 season, meaning that fans have been waiting for over a year. That also probably didn’t help with the network’s decision to ultimately cancel it. But as Rubinstein said, thanks to streaming, many people have been able to watch it, and it’s now become a “global show” for many different reasons.

“I think it made such a mark on so many people on so many different levels, like, the characters that we got to show, the storylines that we got to show on Fox, too,” Rubinstein explained. “It really is, I feel like, a trailblazing show for so many reasons. I think one of the biggest ones is being the kind of LGBTQ representation that we had on the show, between Brian [Michael Smith], Rafa[el L. Silva], and myself. I mean, it’s pretty legendary stuff.”

“And I think that just all the praise goes to Ryan Murphy and Tim Minear, and our newest showrunner, Rashad [Raisani],” he continued. “So, from that perspective, it’s kind of like just one giant blessing, and it truly has changed my life. It’s changed my career. I’m able to now live in my dream home with my dream backyard, and my wife and I are in an incredible place that you just don’t always get when you try to pursue this really risky, highly unlikely career. It’s one of the riskiest careers out there, and to actually be able to make a living and change your life and your future family’s life. It’s just been unbelievable. So, from that perspective, it’s kind of like this was amazing.”

Of course, it’s not easy saying goodbye to a job you’ve had for five years and the friends you’ve made from it. Filming for Lone Star wrapped over the summer, and while it wasn’t confirmed at the time that it was the last season, everyone still had a feeling. In regards to the series ending, Rubinstein said, “There’s the obvious sadness to it of you’re leaving people that you work with. You’re leaving over a hundred people that you’ve worked with for the last five years. Many of them were there since day one with me in New York: our makeup team, our hair team, our costume department, most of the cast. So, leaving those people is pretty sad. We all had a big cry on our last days at work. I especially remember ugly crying in Rafael’s shoulder when I realized we’re not gonna do any scenes anymore together. And I think just saying bye to the character. You know? You spend so much time with someone.”

“I’m at work more than I’m at home these last five years,” he admitted. “We’re usually shooting nine months out of the year. 14 hours a day. It’s like it becomes your other family. And so, from that perspective, it sucks. And it just shows again that in this industry, you just never know. You have to stay on your toes. It’s gonna be the number one show on Fox, and they’re gonna cancel it. Like, how does that make sense? But the industry is the wild, wild west, and you just have to sort of adapt and develop a tough skin, which, luckily, I’ve been able to. It definitely hurt when we first found out about it. And, luckily, I’ve had some time to make peace with it and just sort of look around and zoom out and be like, ‘Wow. This was an incredible, incredible journey and such a massive blessing.’ It’s hard to complain.”

Unlike parent series , Lone Star will not be moving to ABC, but there have reportedly been discussions about a potential spinoff on either ABC or Fox. For now, the fifth and final season of 9-1-1: Lone Star premieres on Monday, Sept. 23 at 8 p.m. ET on Fox’s 2024 fall schedule.