9-1-1: Nashville Finds a Familiar Face To Play Its ‘Rugged Fire Captain’
9-1-1: Nashville made a solid choice for the role of Captain Don Sharpe, and fans are not going to be disappointed. The character is described as “a rugged fire captain and rodeo rider,” and the actor is well known to NCIS: Los Angeles viewers.
On March 17, Variety revealed that Chris O’Donnell was headed to ABC for the 2025-2026 broadcast season. The spinoff show is expected to navigate the lives and loves of first responders in Nashville, Tenn. O’Donnell’s character heads the firehouse alongside his son, and like any good drama, Captain Sharpe has a “secret.”
The details on 911: Nashville
Ryan Murphy’s first responder series, 9-1-1, premiered in 2018, starring Angela Bassett and Peter Krause, as first responders facing high-stakes experiences. The show offered a fresh take on procedurals, so just two years later, 9-1-1: Lone Star hit the scene. This time around it was a New York firefighter, played by Rob Lowe, finding a fresh star in Austin, Texas. The show aired its final episode in February after five seasons. And now, 9-1-1: Nashville is about to enter the chat.
The spinoff was first teased in October 2024 when Murphy revealed to Variety that he and [series co-creator] Tim Minear were “going to launch a new show in a new city.” He promised it would be “fun” and in February, Deadline confirmed that Nashville was the new location because the tax credits topped anything Las Vegas or Hawaii could offer.
Minear revealed to TVLine that the rich country music roots in Nashville will “absolutely” play into the storyline and it will feel vastly different from 9-1-1: Lone Star. “I think that it’s a really interesting city with its own personality. It’s very unlike Austin,” he explained. “We did kind of a red state 9-1-1 [with Lone Star], but Austin is a very blue town. 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.”
But if you’re already making a list of crossover 9-1-1 stars who could visit Music City, slow down. Minear warns, “It’s just not something we’re thinking about right now.”
Chris O’Donnell’s TV roots
This isn’t his first rodeo! O’Donnell first jumped from the big screen to TV in 2006 with nine episodes in Seasons 2 and 3 on ABC’s long-running hit, Grey’s Anatomy. He played Dr. Finn Dandridge aka “McVet” as the former veterinarian of Meredith and Derek’s doc, Finn. Of course, a love triangle ensued with “McDreamy” ultimately winning Meredith’s heart.
In 2009, he committed to CBS’s popular NCIS franchise by helming the NCIS: Los Angeles spinoff which ran for a whopping 14 seasons. O’Donnell and LL Cool J played undercover agents, who were assigned to the Office of Special Projects, a branch of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. That means that the 54-year-old actor is quite familiar with network procedural shows — he’s going to fit right into the 9-1-1 landscape.
O’Donnell is the only cast member to be announced so far, but we expect to see more names kicking up some dust soon!
