LeAnn Rimes got advice from an unexpected place before the premiere of her ABC series 9-1-1: Nashville.
“I was talking the other day to Rob Lowe and he was talking about how, ‘If you want reality, you don’t go to this series. We have the craziest rescues, which is what’s so interesting,’” Rimes, 43, exclusively told Us Weekly on Tuesday, October 7, at the premiere in Nashville. “We’ll be like, ‘There’s no way this has happened before in real life.’ Then they’ll show us the articles because they’re pulling from real life situations.”
Rimes loved the campiness that comes with the 9-1-1 universe.
“If you think about it — in the world of however many millions of people there are — this stuff is bound to happen to somebody. Every time we think it hasn’t really happened, there’s an article for that that shows you it has,” she noted. “What I love about it is once you buy into the craziness of this show, you just fall in love with it.”
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She continued: “I remember watching the first couple episodes of 9-1-1. I was like, ‘What am I watching?’ And then about the third episode, I was like, ‘Whoa, I’m totally into their own reality.’ You just fall in love with it.”
The 9-1-1 world originated with the OG series, which premiered on Fox in 2018. It followed the professional and personal lives of Los Angeles first responders with Angela Bassett, Peter Krause, Aisha Hinds, Oliver Stark, Connie Britton and Kenneth Choi leading the show. Fox canceled the series in 2023, allowing ABC to renew the show that is currently still airing on the network.
9-1-1 then expanded with 9-1-1: Lone Star, which followed a New York City firefighter (played by Lowe) who relocated to Texas while trying to balance his job alongside his personal issues. Liv Tyler, Ronen Rubinstein, Rafael L. Silva, Sierra McClain, Jim Parrack, Natacha Karam, Brian Michael Smith, Julian Works and Gina Torres made up the rest of the cast.
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By 2023, 9-1-1: Lone Star was renewed for its fifth and final season after remaining on Fox. Cocreators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Tim Minear, meanwhile, decided to grow the universe with the Nashville spinoff.
“You’re right about how it is kitschy and there are some real Dynasty-like moments,” Rimes shared in Us‘ cover story. “It’s not just all about the high-stakes rescues. There’s definitely some drama and there’s a nighttime soapy vibe to the show. We get to have a lot of fun with that and nothing is taken too seriously, which I love.”
She continued: “The things that I’ve done in the past have been just like an extension of who I am. This is an extension of me but way more than I could have ever imagined. … To let the rage and the anger and the things out on set [while in character], it’s fun. It was such a juxtaposition of who I am normally and what I’ve been offered before.”
9-1-1: Nashville premieres on ABC Thursday, October 8, at 9 p.m. ET before streaming the next day on Hulu.
