Breaking Down How Sierra McClain’s Exit Completely Changed Judd’s Arc on ‘9-1-1: Lone Star’

Sierra McClain's exit from 9-1-1: Lone Star caused not only Grace's story to change — but Judd's as well.

During the Monday, December 2, episode of the Fox series, Owen (Rob Lowe) discovers that Judd (Jim Parrack) has been drinking a lot more since Grace left. Judd admits that he lost his "center" without his wife, which led to a five-month drinking problem that he is trying to stop. Owen chooses not to take a job offer in New York and insists on taking Judd to a meeting.

Executive producer Rashad Raisani revealed how McClain's departure played into Judd's evolving story line.

"If you go back to before Judd met Grace in the Saving Grace episode where we really played on what Judd was like before Grace. He was kind of a mess. He was drinking too much, he was fighting, he had problems. I mean, really, his issues were anger and alcohol. We wanted to play that Grace has been the stabilizing force," Raisani told TV Insider. "And to be frank with you, we weren’t going to do this story this year."

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The writers room chose to have Judd hit rock bottom after Grace's onscreen exit.

"It wasn’t until Sierra McClain didn’t come back and therefore Grace didn’t come back that that led us to start thinking about, well, who is Judd without Grace? And we can’t hide the fact that she was such a stabilizing force in his life," he continued. "And even though he has, on the outside, all of these things around him to stay strong for, on the inside, his center is gone. And so we really wanted to play that."

Raisani continued: "I think if you go back in this season all the way to episode 1, Owen shows up in the middle of the day, and Judd’s like, 'Hey, you want to drink?' And every scene we played at the house, there was always a beer out. This is something that’s been going on all year. And because that’s who he was the minute before he met Grace."

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News broke in June that McClain, 30, was leaving the show ahead of season 5 following contract renegotiation issues.

"Grace was going to have a spiritual crisis, and this was something I talked to Sierra about. It was her pitch, to be frank. And I liked it," Raisani added about the original plan for Grace. "Funny enough, we were going to flip their usual dynamic where Judd was more of the scaffolding and the strength for Grace, and they were going to end the series probably with a second kid and happy. We were definitely going to give them a happy ending."

The season 5 premiere, which aired in September, revealed that she went abroad to volunteer with Mercy Ships — an organization that provides global surgeries. Her sudden departure left Judd at home with their 2-year-old daughter and caring for his son, Wyatt Harris, whom he welcomed in a previous relationship, while he recovered from an accident that left him paralyzed.

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“The only thing we could think of to justifiably pull Grace away from her family and job was an even greater calling,” Raisani told TVLine at the time. “And the only thing in Grace’s world that could answer that was God.”

Amid Judd's personal issues, Raisani teased that the show will find a way to incorporate Grace's response, adding on Monday, "Indirectly. There will be a moment at the end of episode 10. Grace is very involved, even though she’s not on the show, with Judd’s journey in episode 10."

9-1-1: Lone Star airs on Fox Mondays at 8 p.m. ET.