Advertisement

9-1-1: Lone Star boss explains character's return

gina torres as tommy vega in 911 lone star, sitting in an ambulance
9-1-1: Lone Star boss explains character's returnFOX

9-1-1: Lone Star's latest episode featured the return of Pearce Risher (Andy Favreau) — and plonked him into a pretty explosive scenario.

This week's instalment, 'Sellouts', featured Pearce working for private paramedic company Paragon, thinking he's in a better situation than working with our main protagonists at EMS 126.

But disaster strikes when Pearce's ambulance, full of outdated and poorly maintained equipment, blows up. Tommy Vega (Gina Torres) has to put aside her dislike of both Pearce and these dodgy private companies to save the day.

Related: 9-1-1: Lone Star creator explains why character had to die

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, show boss Tim Minear explained why they brought the character back. "We love Andy. He's just so funny. We had been talking about the idea of our medical team going up against a private ambulance company for a while — and we also love [Adam Ray as Paragon boss Jacques], he's also hilarious," he said.

"So we thought: 'What if we put these two obnoxious characters in the same world? What if Pearce was actually working for Paragon and for Jacques?'"

Speaking about the wider issue of the private companies causing more trouble than good, Minear stated that the team behind 9-1-1: Lone Star really enjoyed the "competition" element of last's season police drama and wanted more of that.

gina torres as tommy vega in 911 lone star, sitting in an ambulance
FOX

Related: 9-1-1's Peter Krause breaks down the conclusion of Wendell and Bobby's story

"It was just an interesting dilemma for our medical team to go up against this private company," he continued. "And, of course, it's not a private company that has the best standards.

"For all their smoothie slinging and probably playing Frank Sinatra in the ambulance, some of the equipment is not really up to standards. And so the thing blows up, and Tommy gets to save her arch-nemesis."

9-1-1 and 9-1-1: Lone Star both air on FOX and Hulu in the US and Sky Witness in the UK.

You Might Also Like