How 9-1-1: Lone Star 's Julian Works got cast as Mateo despite playing another character on 9-1-1
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When 9-1-1: Lone Star premiered in 2019, fans of the original thought the actor playing Mateo looked a little familiar.
The 126 "probie" sure looked a lot like a criminal named Marvin who helped Angela Bassett's Athena with a rescue in season 2 of the original 9-1-1 series the year prior. But this wasn't a doppelgänger situation; both Marvin and Mateo were potrayed by actor Julian Works.
"When they first sent me Julian for Mateo, I was like, guys, I've already cast this guy. He was in 9-1-1,'" Lone Star co-creator and showrunner Tim Minear tells EW. "And I remember, I think it was our head of casting at the time, Liz Paulson, who was like, 'Yeah, but he's so good.' And I couldn't disagree with that. And I said, 'You know what? We can just later say that Mateo and Marvin are cousins.'"
Kevin Estrada/FOX; Fox Julian Works as Mateo (left) and Marvin on '9-1-1: Lone Star'
That plan played out during a 2021 crossover where members of 9-1-1's Los Angeles-based 118 combine forces with Lone Star's 126 and Mateo mentions his cousin locked up in L.A.
"We set it up there, which was a wink to the fans who were familiar with both franchises," Minear says. "But that became cannon at that point."
The next evolution was to bring Marvin to screen next to Mateo, something that will finally happen in tonight's Lone Star episode, "Double Trouble."
"Mateo gets a phone call from his cousin who's in trouble. It seems that Mateo is the one family member that Marvin could always rely on to help him out," Works said as part of EW's recent exclusive look at the episode. "And that's because of this guilt that Mateo has — he feels kind of indebted to his cousin Marvin."
A series of events will lead Mateo into a dream sequence of sorts that plays out like a classic sitcom, complete with an opening theme song. Minear is quick to point out that while the sequence "leans into the ludicrousness" of the story line, it is "not a gimmick."
"It's a gimmick in the sense that it's a highly stylized choice," he explains. "But the thing I love about it so much is that you're actually getting Mateo's backstory through this sitcom plot that's happening in his head. Once he comes out of that, you discover that the reality is some version of that happened in his real life."
Works is eager to share Marvin and Mateo's story with viewers, even those who are superfans but never realized his connection to both series.
"Occasionally I'll get new messages on Instagram asking, 'Hey, were you cast as Marvin?'" he says. "And then once they do realize that it was me, they always ask, 'Oh, is Marvin going to be on Lone Star?' Or 'How's that going to work?' So this episode is a good treat for the fans. It was definitely fun to play, and I was so excited. I couldn't wait to step on set and do my thing."
9-1-1: Lone Star season 4, episode 11, "Double Trouble" airs Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.
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