‘Virgin River’ and ‘Hart of Dixie’ Favorite Officially Joins ‘9-1-1: Nashville’ Cast in Midseason Finale

The 9-1-1: Nashville midseason finale introduced a Virgin River and Hart of Dixie star.

In Thursday’s episode, fans met the father of Jessica Capshaw’s Blythe, played by Tim Matheson.

While fighting a fire at a distillery owned by Blythe’s father, Edward, Don (Chris O’Donnell) had to make a tough decision. It took longer than usual for the water to come through the hoses, and as the crew waited for the alternative to arrive, Don had to drain the 113, a highly flammable and expensive ingredient, before the fire spread. All the while, Edward was being held back by officers as he pleaded with his son-in-law in a very demanding way not to drain the ingredient.

Even though Don repeatedly told Edward that there wasn’t enough time to wait for the water, he later admitted during a sit-down that he might have let personal feelings get in the way. Also during the sit-down, Don reluctantly asked Edward for a donation to help with layoffs in the department. Although Edward agreed, he would only do it if Don fired Blue. Don was not happy, especially with what Edward was saying about Blue, and after a heated argument, Blythe asked her father to leave.

Luckily, just before Don was able to tell Blue about the situation, Don figured that it was actually his father-in-law and his distillery that were stealing water. Don ended up blackmailing Edward into donating to the department and keeping Blue on, which worked. While this was the midseason finale, showrunner Rashad Raisani told TVLine that fans will not be the last time they see Edward Raleigh.

“He’s great. And he’s basically now a series regular,” Raisani shared. “I worked with him before on a show called Burn Notice; he directed an episode and was a main character on the show. It was a long time ago, but I remembered how amazing he was, and he’s even better now. Some of the stuff he has coming downstream is tremendous. He’s definitely part of our fabric.”

Matheson is best known for his role as Dr. Bertram “Brick” Breeland on Hart of Dixie from 2011 to 2015 and can currently be seen as Doc Mullins in the Netflix hit Virgin River. Additionally, he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Vice President John Hoynes in The West Wing.

9-1-1: Nashville marks Matheson’s first on-screen TV role since guest starring in the Quantum Leap reboot in 2023. Nashville returns on Thursday, Jan. 8 at 9 p.m. ET on ABC, streaming the next day on Hulu.