After several successful years with 9-1-1, FOX optioned a spin-off in 2022 — 9-1-1: Lone Star, set in Austin, Texas, and starring Rob Lowe as fire captain Owen Strand. Though FOX ultimately canceled 9-1-1 due to cost issues — don’t worry, ABC picked it up, and Season 8 premieres on September 26 — 9-1-1: Lone Star stayed with FOX. The WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike delayed the filming of its fifth season, and the show was pushed back to skip the Spring 2023 season entirely, leading to some unexpected fallout with the cast.
The announcement of 9-1-1: Lone Star‘s fifth season came with two unfortunate surprises for fans: the fifth season would also be the show’s final season, and fan-favorite character Grace Ryder (Sierra McClain) would not be returning with the rest of the cast. As the premiere of Season 5 grew closer, fans began to wonder — how will 9-1-1: Lone Star explain Grace’s absence without blowing up the show’s strongest and most beloved relationship?
Who is Grace Ryder?
From the very first episode of 9-1-1: Lone Star, Grace Ryder was the calm voice at the other end of the line for both 9-1-1 callers and the police and firefighters who heard from dispatch. Grace’s soothing Texas accent was there when Ladder 126 lost all but one of their men in Season 1, Episode 1, “Pilot,” and she was often the voice of reason for her husband, Judd Ryder (Jim Parrack), and later for her friend Tommy Vega (Gina Torres), who joined the show in Season 2. Though on 9-1-1, there are several members of the dispatch team that audiences have gotten to know, Grace remained the primary dispatcher for all four initial seasons of 9-1-1: Lone Star and quickly became a fan favorite.
Grace is known for her devout faith and her relationship with God. Though she and Judd aren’t always on the same page, Grace is always willing to push him to think about his relationship with God but never holds it against him when he wavers. She is also a force to be reckoned with — when a car accident left Grace with a broken leg, she was determined to get back on her feet without any help. Though she eventually accepted the help she needed in Season 2, Episode 10, “A Little Help From My Friends,” she continued to be just as stubborn and independent as ever. In Season 3, Episode 3, “Shock & Thaw,” and Episode 4, “Push,” Grace goes into labor in the middle of an ice storm and tries to drive herself to the hospital with Judd’s estranged friend Billy Tyson (Billy Burke, now on Fire Country), only to end up blocked by cars left behind in the snow. Billy finds a tour bus that had been left behind, and Grace gives birth there, just as Judd, Tommy, and Owen finally find her and Billy. For fans of the show and the characters on it, there is no one like Grace Ryder.
Grace and Judd are Relationship Goals
Since Grace and Judd were already married when 9-1-1: Lone Star began, audiences had to wait until Season 2, Episode 9, “Saving Grace,” to learn more about how Grace and Judd got together. After a call brings up a tough memory from his past, Judd decides to call a prayer hotline. The person who answers is Grace, who says two important things to Judd. First, she quotes from Psalm 31, saying, “Let me never be ashamed. Deliver me in thy righteousness. You protect the faithful and reward the good-doers as long as they trust in you.” Immediately after that, Grace tells him, “None of us are perfect. It’s by grace that we’re saved.” The conversation sets the tone for their relationship, mostly because Judd comes to feel that Grace saved him.
Over the next several months, Judd continues to call the prayer hotline to specifically speak to Grace, and they build a friendship that only becomes a relationship when he happens to run into her in a bar and recognizes her voice. Grace is getting ready to leave for Georgetown to get a graduate degree in Global Policy, but they start a relationship anyway, much to the disappointment of Grace’s father, who doesn’t think that Judd and his blue-collar job are good enough for Grace. When Grace tells Judd that she’s thinking about staying in Austin, he lies and tells her that he doesn’t love her because he thinks it will help her leave. Grace doesn’t go anywhere, and when Tommy Vega gives birth to her twin girls, Judd and Grace see each other at the hospital. Judd admits that he lied, and when he asks if Grace has a boyfriend, she tells him that she does — but he hasn’t picked up the phone in six months.
Sierra McClain, who plays Grace, was on Mindhunter and Empire prior to 9-1-1: Lone Star . She is also part of the music trio Thriii with her sisters Lauryn McClain and China Anne McClain — who many people will recognize from Disney’s A.N.T. Farm and the Descendants films. Both of Sierra’s sisters guest starred as Grace’s sisters in Season 4, Episode 13, “Open,” when Grace’s father was in the hospital.
Beyond their sweet courtship, Judd and Grace have built a strong relationship that allows them to meet any obstacle head-on. Grace is the one who helps Judd connect with Owen when Owen first comes to town in Season 1, Episode 1, “Pilot,” and she stands right by Judd’s side when he learns that a one-night stand from his twenties resulted in a child in Season 3, Episode 5, “Child Care,” even though Wyatt’s appearance hurts as she has just had Charlie, her daughter with Judd, who she believed was Judd’s first child. Grace helps make Wyatt (Jackson Pace, previously on The Walking Dead and Homeland) a part of their family and supports Judd at the end of Season 4 when he decides to retire from the fire department to take care of Wyatt after an accident leaves him paralyzed. Their relationship is built on trust and support and fans looked forward to their interactions each season.
Helping Others Was a Calling for Grace
Despite her father wanting her to get a graduate degree from Georgetown, Grace knew that she was destined to help people and that it didn’t matter where she did it. When Grace chooses not to go to Georgetown, she takes a job as a 9-1-1 dispatcher where she helps countless people deal with emergencies, from fires to overdoses to freak accidents. In Season 4, Episode 5, “Human Resources,” Grace even helps a young boy with his multiplication tables and what to do after he burns his grandmother’s casserole dish, and hears over the phone that something might wrong with his mother. When she finally gives in to her concerns and goes to his home to see what is going on, she discovers that his mother is having a stroke. Grace and Judd rush her to the hospital, ultimately saving her life.
In Season 3, Episode 7, “Red vs. Blue,” Grace meets a coworker from the night shift and learns that people have taken to calling her “Amazing Grace” for how she handles her 9-1-1 calls. She’s also the dispatcher on the line when a young woman wakes up to discover her kidney has been taken in Season 4, Episode 15, “Donors,” and works with Carlos Reyes (Rafael L. Silva) to figure out who is kidnapping people and stealing their organs for the black market, even putting herself in danger to do so. Grace, like so many of the characters on 9-1-1: Lone Star, focuses on putting others first, even if it makes her life more difficult.
Why did Grace Ryder Leave 9-1-1: Lone Star?
In a Deadline piece released in June 2024, Fox Entertainment announced that Sierra McClain would not be returning to the fifth season of 9-1-1: Lone Star. Many of the show’s stars attempted to begin renegotiations prior to Season 4, an effort not uncommon with a successful show, but Fox Entertainment put the negotiations off for after the season aired, which then ran into the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. When the actors attempted to negotiate ahead of Season 5, the studio refused, offering them “bonuses” instead. It was after this that McClain parted ways with the studio, leading to the departure of Grace Ryder. For months, fans wondered how 9-1-1: Lone Star would deal with Grace’s absence while staying true to both her character and to Judd. Audiences finally found out when Season 5, Episode 1, “Both Sides, Now,” premiered on Monday, September 23.
“I remember her face the day that the people from the Mercy Ship came to our church, and they were pinning up these pictures of these little kids from the orphanage, and it was, you know…little kids that the whole world has forgot about. But little kids that, once Grace saw ’em, she couldn’t forget about ’em.”
— Judd Ryder, talking about Grace’s new calling.
The Season 5 premiere jumped 9 months from the Season 4 finale, which gave the show the opportunity to age Grace and Judd’s daughter Charlie up a little, and skipped over Wyatt’s recovery and the birth of his son, Liam. The time jump made it so that Judd is no longer playing caretaker for Wyatt, which gives Grace’s absence more meaning. In a conversation with Wyatt, Judd talked about Grace’s work with Mercy Ships, a real organization that sends hospital ships all over the world to help people in need. Before Grace left, she helped train Wyatt to be a dispatcher, which ensures audiences still have an emotional connection to 9-1-1 dispatch while she’s helping people all over the world. “If I get lost, or I go adrift, I turn to Gracie, and she helps me get back on solid ground,” Judd told Wyatt in the Season 5 premiere. “But… Grace ain’t here right now.” Now Judd will have to figure out what he’s going to do next on his own. Grace will be missed on 9-1-1: Lone Star, but fans are excited to see what her absence really means for the rest of the Ryder family.
