9-1-1: Nashville Adds ‘NCIS: Los Angeles’ Star Chris O’Donnell

There’s a new Cap in the 9-1-1 universe!

NCIS: Los Angeles star Chris O’Donnell has joined 9-1-1: Nashville as its first cast member, according to Deadline. 

O’Donnell will star as Captain Don Sharpe, “a rugged fire captain and rodeo rider who runs Nashville’s busiest firehouse with his beloved son,” per TV Line. Don is described as “a devoted husband and family man, but he has his secrets.”

9-1-1: Nashville is the second 9-1-1 spinoff series. The first is 9-1-1: Lone Star, which premiered in 2020, aired for five seasons on ABC, and concluded its run in February 2025. 

9-1-1 debuted on FOX in 2019. As previously reported, the procedural drama moved to ABC for its seventh season. 

In February 2025, Deadline exclusively reported that the new spinoff series will be set in Nashville. The outlet also shared that 9-1-1: Nashville received a straight-to-series order from ABC, with its first season set to premiere during the 2025-26 season.

The series is written and executive produced by the 9-1-1 franchise’s co-creators Ryan Murphy & Tim Minear and 9-1-1: Lone Star‘s showrunner Rashad Raisani. 

Minear revealed a bit about why Nashville, Tennessee, was the best location for 9-1-1‘s last spinoff after setting shows in Los Angeles, California, and Austin, Texas.

“There were a lot of possibilities that had been talked about. One, I think that it’s a really interesting city with its own personality. It’s very unlike Austin. We did kind of a red state 9-1-1 [with Lone Star], but Austin is a very blue town,” Minear told TV Line.

“Nashville felt even a little bit more Southern. It also has the country music industry, and it just felt like it could be a fun place to set a piece of the franchise,” Minear added.

Minear also shared that reasoning came down to practicality. “Quite frankly, Tennessee is very production-friendly. That also factored into our reasoning. There are some states that you think would be fantastic places to set the show, but it’s just not cost-effective to do it,” Minear concluded. 

Brad Falchuk, co-creator of 9-1-1 and 9-1-1: Lone Star, will executive produce the new series. 9-1-1 star Angela Bassett, who also executive produced 9-1-1 Lone: Star, will also executive produce 9-1-1: Nashville. 

Fans of O’Donnell’s work will know this isn’t the first time he has starred in a network procedural drama. O’Donnell played Special Agent G. Callen for all 14 seasons of NCIS: Los Angeles on CBS. The NCIS spinoff series ended with a two-episode series finale in May 2023.

Beyond O’Donnell, any other casting for 9-1-1: Nashville is still under wraps with any details about the show’s plot.

20th Television, where Murphy is under an overall deal, is the studio producing the series for ABC.

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9-1-1: Nashville will air on ABC.

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