Sierra McClain exited 9-1-1: Lone Star before Season 5 — the final season — went into production. The exit was abrupt and unexpected, stemming from failed salary negotiations with the studio. The show had to pivot and change some storylines to accommodate this exit. The Season 5 premiere revealed that Grace had joined a charity mission. “I had gotten some suggestions and pressure to kill her off so that it could just be simple, but I just thought that that wasn’t the right way to do it,” co-showrunner Rashad Raisani revealed to ScreenRant. Keeping her alive allowed the show to reference her in the story, and as the show ended, it was revealed that she was still on her mission. However, that was not the original plan. Raisani revealed he cut a line from the series finale that would have set up Grace’s return, saying:
“We actually had a line in there that I cut from the final cut of the show, which was that she was going to be back next month because that’s what I always wanted.”
Why ‘9-1-1: Lone Star’ Cut Grace’s Homecoming Line
Raisani felt that keeping that line would have been too cruel for viewers who hoped Grace would appear at some point in the finale for her husband’s big day. “It just felt like a tease to the audience to say, ‘Oh, you just missed her. She would’ve been here if you’d been here 20 minutes later,'” he said. Tommy (Gina Torres) tells Judd the twins were filming his promotion party so that they may keep the footage for Grace, revealing that her mission will go on for a while longer instead.
The showrunner also revealed that if the show had returned for Season 6, it would have integrated Grace into the story if McClain had returned. “I think that had we come back, and hopefully, we would’ve been able to get her to come back, I don’t know if we would’ve, but we would’ve probably given it a more final resolution had we had another year,” Raisani said. Grace’s departure affected Judd’s (Jim Parrack) life the most, with the character’s arc in Season 5 getting tweaked. Raisani revealed that Judd taking over the 126 was always the plan, but it would have played out differently if Grace had been part of his life, saying,
“It was always the plan to have Judd take it over. But the plan was totally different than we expected because we always thought Grace would be by his side throughout that whole journey. And so we didn’t know exactly how we were going to play it, but certainly, she would’ve been a much bigger part on screen, and he probably wouldn’t have gone to the depths of hell that he did because she would’ve been there to keep that from happening. We ended in the same place, but we took a totally different route to get there.”
Grace’s departure greatly affected the show, but her presence was always felt, even if she was not seen. Relive all the drama by streaming all five seasons of 9-1-1: Lone Star on Hulu in the US.
