9-1-1: Lone Star Boss Shoots Down Potential Owen-Michelle Relationship: 'That Was Never My Thought'
Admit it: If you watched the 10-episode first season of 9-1-1: Lone Star, you totally expected Rob Lowe and Liv Tyler’s characters to get together at some point — and then wondered why they never did. You’re not alone.
When TVLine exclusively broke that Natalie Zea was joining the show as Lowe’s new love interest, even our readers expressed their surprise, posting comments like, “I thought that the captains would get together.”
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But here’s the thing: Owen Strand (Lowe) and Michelle Blake (Tyler) were never intended to be paired romantically, according to executive producer Tim Minear. We all just assumed they were.
“I think people expect [them to get together] because they’re two attractive, single people on a TV show,” Minear tells TVLine. “But that was never my thought. I think that they both have their own character agency, and they don’t need one another to complete themselves.”
There you have it, folks. Everything that we assumed would develop from the two-stepping and late-night pep talks — not to mention Owen getting overly involved in Michelle’s sister’s disappearance for a hot minute — was all in our heads.
That leaves T.K. and Carlos (aka “Tarlos”) as the show’s only new first-responder romance, and we’ll be seeing a lot more of it if Fox renews Lone Star for a second season. “They never really had a courtship,” Minear says of Owen’s son and Michelle’s cop buddy. “Things started really hot and fast, then T.K. backed off, and then life sort of took over. Carlos doesn’t really know T.K. all that well, and the audience doesn’t know Carlos all that well.”
Did you also expect Lone Star to introduce an Owen-Michelle romance? Drop a comment with your thoughts on that non-relationship below.
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