How That ‘Gut-Wrenching’ 9-1-1: Lone Star Tragedy Changes Everything For Judd Going Forward, According To The Showrunner

Spoiler alert! This story contains spoilers for 9-1-1: Lone Star’s May 9 episode, “A House Divided.”

Fans were warned that trauma was coming for the 9-1-1: Lone Star firefighters before Season 4 came to an end, and in the final episode before the finale, we saw that promise come to fruition. Judd’s son Wyatt, the young father-to-be who was in training to follow his dad’s footsteps in becoming a firefighter, was hit by a car while riding his bike, and while he survived, his injuries were extensive, and showrunner Tim Minear spoke about what this means for Judd’s family and how this “changes everything” going forward.

The incident came at the end of an episode that saw Judd (Jim Parrack) and Tommy (Gina Torres) engaged in a pretty serious (and, honestly, sometimes hilarious) spat, after Tommy disobeyed a direct order on a call, and Judd — who was acting captain in Owen’s absence — reported her to HR. After Wyatt’s accident, that’s all water under the bridge, as the whole 126 will rally around Judd and his son. Tim Minear spoke to EW about what’s to come for the firefighter, saying:

It's gut-wrenching. And in the subsequent scenes, how Judd deals with it and how Wyatt deals with it — and how they're going to deal with this thing going forward…. The way it changes everything for this particular group of characters is super rich and incredibly moving.

It sounds like they’ve got a long and emotional journey ahead — one that we’ll likely see more of when 9-1-1: Lone Star returns to Fox for Season 5. This was a pretty devastating thing to happen to Judd, as we’ve seen him and Wyatt (Jackson Pace) get to know each other more, after the first responder only learned of Wyatt’s existence in Season 3. The proud papa boasted in this episode that his son’s training was actually going really well, and that there were already fire stations wanting to hire him when he graduated. I'd say that's unlikely to happen now.

Tim Minear said that while putting these characters through this “felt real, and it felt right, and it felt surprising,” the plot also served a practical purpose in how the Fox drama would handle Wyatt becoming a firefighter. The showrunner explained:

We could have gone down the road of Wyatt joining another firehouse, but we did that with [Chimney's brother] Albert on 9-1-1 and I didn't want to repeat myself. So I realized that this is a way to service the Wyatt story that I've started, and to solve the dilemma between Tommy and Judd.

With Tarlos’ highly anticipated wedding finally coming in next week’s season finale, I don’t know how much of an update we’ll get on Wyatt’s condition, but I think we can all prepare ourselves for drama of some sort. Is there still more trauma to come for the 126? Check out the preview for the two-hour Season 4 finale:

Sure, everybody looks wonderful and happy and ready to see TK (Ronen Rubinstein) and Carlos (Rafael L. Silva) finally say “I do,” but nothing is ever that easy on 9-1-1: Lone Star, right? And the way Owen (Rob Lowe) says it’s a “perfect moment” just has me feeling uneasy. Were the results of his Huntington’s test REALLY negative?

We don’t have to wait long to find out! The 9-1-1: Lone Star finale event starts at 8 p.m. ET next Tuesday, May 16, on Fox. And with this series wrapping its season, be sure to check out what premieres are coming soon with our 2023 TV schedule.