As a Tennessee Native, I’m Extremely Worried About 9-1-1’s Newest Spinoff

Compared to the typical settings of Los Angeles and New York City, there aren't a ton of television shows based in Nashville, Tennessee, the heart of country music in the United States. The most well-known series that takes place in Music City is the appropriately-titled Nashville, which aired from 2012 to 2018 and starred Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere as country music singers. Seven years later, the city is hoping to dominate the network television industry once again with 9-1-1: Nashville, the second spinoff of Ryan Murphy, Brad Fulchuk and Tim Minear's 9-1-1 franchise.

9-1-1: Nashville follows the success of the Los Angeles-based flagship series, which stars Peter Krause (until his unexpected departure in the eighth season) and Angela Bassett, as well as the recently ended spinoff 9-1-1: Lone Star, based in Austin, Texas. The series was created by Murphy, Minear and Lone Star co-showrunner Rashad Raisani, and, like the other series in the franchise, will follow first responders as they deal with life-threatening emergencies. As exciting as it is to get a series based in a diverse city full of culture and a rich history, there are some roadblocks that will likely prevent the show from representing the city in its truest form.

9-1-1: Nashville Has a Diversity Problem (So Far)

The reaction to Nashville being the setting of the 9-1-1 spinoff has been mixed, both from residents of the city and those who live outside of it. Many people were disappointed that it's another Southern setting instead of a geographical area that the franchise hasn't hit yet, which is valid. Those who've lived in the Nashville or surrounding area all their lives are thrilled to see it depicted in one of the biggest network franchises right now, but also remain apprehensive. Fans of the franchise have already taken to Reddit to cast their predictions on what 9-1-1: Nashville will look like:

"So... it's going to be a diluted version of Lone Star with country music and rednecks, and a likely cameo from Dolly Parton?"

There are a couple of things to dissect here, the first being that "redneck" is considered a derogatory term based on the stereotype of uneducated, white rural Southerners who lack sophistication. In reality, the term originated in a couple of different places: the sunburned necks of lower and working-class farmers and laborers who worked outdoors, and coal miners who wore red bandannas around their necks while fighting for their right to unionize. Secondly, what's wrong with a Dolly Parton cameo? She's one of the sweetest humans on Earth who has done nothing but produce great music and support LGBTQ+ and women's rights, and that's only touching the surface of her activism. No one seemed to complain when 9-1-1 did a crossover with The Bachelor.

That was only one comment, posted six months ago when the show was announced and prior to casting news. Since then, eight cast members have been revealed: Chris O'Donnell, Jessica Capshaw, Hailey Kilgore, Michael Provost, Juani Feliz, Hunter McVey, LeAnn Rimes and Kimberly Williams-Paisley. Out of the eight actors, only two of them are people of color (Hailey Kilgore and Juani Feliz). So far, this isn't an entirely fair representation of the city and Tennessee's population. In actuality, it seems like an outsider's assumption that most Southern cities are made up of white people and should be "accurately" depicted as such. While it's true that Nashville's population is 56.51% white as of 2025, making them the majority, that mindset still disregards the large Black and Hispanic population in the city.

This isn't exactly a new problem with 9-1-1. The flagship series remains incredibly diverse and features a Black woman as its now singular protagonist. Lone Star also had a well-rounded, diverse cast, but it would've been the perfect opportunity to feature a woman, a person of color, a member of the LGBTQ+ community (or all of the above!) as the lead. So it's disappointing to hear that the lead of 9-1-1: Nashville is, yet again, a white man who is married to a white woman. Nothing against O'Donnell or Capshaw, who are both fantastic actors, but why is the 9-1-1 franchise so allergic to a minority being the protagonist in its spinoffs? Pushing POCs and possibly LGBTQ+ characters into the supporting roles, while emphasizing the white family, only gives into the stereotypes that people already assume about the city. It also ignores the contributions of Black and Hispanic people in the past and present that have made the city a thriving community.

9-1-1: Nashville Needs to Acknowledge the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of the City

Much of what people outside of Tennessee presume about Nashville isn't actually the real Nashville. People come here for what's been dubbed "NashVegas," a strip of downtown Nashville known for its nightlife, drinking and celebrity-owned establishments. The area is on Lower Broadway, a vibrant but absolutely chaotic street that is basically a scene from The Walking Dead on Friday and Saturday nights. The street used to be easily accessible by vehicle a decade or so ago, but now it is practically impossible on busy nights with people in cowboy boots drunkenly wandering the area and creeps sexually harassing women. It's basically a giant safety hazard. Anyone who is from Nashville or Middle Tennessee in general avoids Broadway at all costs, but Broadway sometimes delivers what it promises: it can be fun for people who enjoy loud country music and honky tonk bars, as long as friends keep an eye on each other.

But that's not what the city is, and hopefully 9-1-1: Nashville knows that. Yes, it's the scene for country music, but it's a go-to for blues and jazz. Underrated musicians play at random bars and restaurants in East Nashville, known as the "hipster" part of the city. And it's also so much more than just music. There's great food, museums (Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief was filmed at the Parthenon), ma and pop restaurants, parks with gorgeous scenery, and top-ranked universities.

Best of all, most people are so friendly. The majority of people who live here have regular jobs like anyone else, and aren't musicians or cowboys. Locals want to share their history and culture with each other and tourists, and will recommend niche spots at the first chance they get. As big as the city is, it feels like a community where everyone looks out for each other.

That's the part of Nashville that the series needs to show, but it also needs to address the growing problems in the city as part of its dramatic storylines. Nashville has boomed astronomically in the past decade, and locals have suffered because of it. Rent and housing prices are absolutely horrendous, making it nearly impossible for someone with a decent job to live here on their own. The traffic is the worst it's ever been; since most people who work in Nashville can't afford to live in the city, they spend most of their time sitting in traffic on the interstate.

Neighborhoods have become so heavily gentrified to appeal to transplants that high housing prices are driving locals out of areas they and their families have lived in for generations. And with this massive growth spurt, the city's poor infrastructure can't keep up. Politics has also become a pressing issue concerning restrictions on women's reproductive rights, banned books and more, but Nashville is also a considerably progressive area. If 9-1-1: Nashville isn't going to bother touching on these issues that naturally write the story itself, then what exactly is the point of the show?

The Spinoff Should Be Careful With Stereotypical Emergencies

Personal drama aside, the excitement really begins in the emergencies the first responders of Nashville will have to tend to on the show. Nashville is far from a calm and serene city, so there are situations ripe for picking. Behind-the-scenes reporting already confirms a tornado is taking place. It's the most fitting disaster to kick off the series, though, with how many locals are still feeling the fallout of fatal tornadoes from the past few years, it'll need to be handled with sensitivity. The same goes for any call that has to deal with attacks or hate crimes, both touchy subjects that deserve far more than surface-level writing, regardless of what city they're in.

But if 9-1-1 is going to do anything, it's show the weird cases firefighters, paramedics and police officers respond to. 9-1-1 might have a bee-nado, but 9-1-1: Nashville will probably have a cicada infestation, turning the city into Gotham. A guy falling into a vat of chocolate? An overconsumption of hot chicken will beat that in a second. A woman getting kidnapped in her own moving home? How about two intoxicated bachelorette parties crashing into each other on pedal taverns? And let's already bet that there's going to be a Morgan Wallen-type singer throwing a chair off a rooftop bar.

These are only the silliest examples of what might happen on 9-1-1: Nashville. Otherwise, normal emergencies still take place. The show is already off to a rocky start by capitalizing off stereotypes -- O'Donnell's Captain Don Sharpe is a former rodeo rider, despite the fact that rodeos aren't that big in Tennessee as they are in the Western United States. The occasional goofy emergency will be amusing entertainment to draw viewers in, but Nashville is just like any other city. 9-1-1: Nashville needs to show that its heroes are regular people dedicating their lives to saving people, not relying on tacky storylines that make a mockery of Southern culture. If it does just that, then maybe 9-1-1: Nashville has a better shot than Lone Star ever did.