It’s the end of an era for Fox. On Feb. 3, the network that first introduced audiences to the 911 franchise will bid farewell to the franchise, possibly for good, as 911: Lone Star signs off the air following a five-season run on Fox.
After five amazing seasons and over 70 episodes, 911: Lone Star comes to an end on Feb. 3 with the final episode of its current fifth season, “Homecoming.” The finale brings about the end of our time with Austin’s 126, where we’ve spent the last several years watching the men and women of the 126 protecting and serving the Austin community.
The good news is that 911: Lone Star is one of the lucky few shows that was given time to naturally bring its storylines to a close with a planned series finale; however, that doesn’t make it any easier to bid farewell to the 126 team – especially when the show was canceled not because of a decline in ratings or fan reception.
Why was 911: Lone Star Canceled?
At the end of the day, the cancellation of 911: Lone Star came down to money and had nothing to do with the show’s ratings or behind-the-scenes drama. The show was simply too expensive for Fox and the decision was ultimately made to end the show rather than try to find a way to bring it back for a sixth season.
911: Lone Star is owned and produced by Disney’s 20th Century Television, which means that Fox had to pay a large licensing fee for the show. With the changing TV landscape, it was simply not financially beneficial to Fox to renew the show for another season which is what ultimately led to the show’s cancellation.
As is often a common practice in the industry, 20th Century Television previously supplied a large number of shows to Fox; however, that all changed in 2019 when Disney acquired 20th Century Television. With the end of 911: Lone Star comes the closing of a major chapter in Fox’s story as a network as Lone Star was the last 20th Century Television drama produced by Fox’s former corporate sibling. (20th Century Television is also behind many of Fox’s hit animated comedies whose futures remain up in the air.)
911: Lone Star will not move to ABC, but a new spinoff is in the works
Fans will recall money played into Fox’s decision to cancel 911 after its sixth season back in 2023, a move that shocked many as the show was Fox’s most-watched program at the time. Ultimately, when Fox chose not to renew the show due to the higher licensing costs, ABC stepped in to continue the show becoming the new home for the series beginning with its seventh season in 2024.
Sadly, ABC will not be saving 911: Lone Star, and it seems there wasn’t ever really an active conversation about moving the spinoff over to ABC. It’s unclear why Disney did not actively seek to move Lone Star over to ABC but we imagine many factors went into the decision including the fact that the cast’s contracts ended with the show’s fifth season and due to ABC already behind home to a handful of first-responder dramas at the time of Lone Star’s cancellation.
While Lone Star will not continue on ABC, there have been conversations about continuing the show with Ryan Murphy telling Variety that there are active conversations about a third show in the franchise.
“Tim Minear and I are working on a new spinoff that we’re actually writing, and that we hope to get on the air next fall,” Murphy tells Variety. “Sadly, we all love Lone Star, but the financials just didn’t work. It’s a Disney company that was on a Fox network, and it just was never going to work. And we had a long run of it. So now we’re going to launch a new show in a new city that I can’t name, but it’s fun. And 911 moved to ABC and suddenly became, I think, the biggest show on Thursday night. They obviously have an appetite for that, so we’re going to give them another one that I really love.”
It's not yet clear where the new spinoff could be set, but it's expected the series will land on ABC and feature an entirely new cast of characters. Still, there is a clear interest among fans to see more of the Lone Star characters so perhaps we could see a few familiar faces pop up again in the franchise again down the line.
And while 911: Lone Star has come to an end, you can always enjoy rewatching favorite episodes on Hulu and Disney+ where the show is currently streaming as part of select plans!