Spoilers lie ahead for 9-1-1: Lone Star's Season 5, Episode 7, “Kiddos.”
9-1-1: Lone Star’s final season is a major title on the 2024 TV schedule, and it's been intense, to say the least. Since the first few episodes featured a train derailment and a dangerous gas leak, the personal and professional emergencies have arguably been enough to keep fans on the edge of their seats. Amid all that, Gina Torres' Tommy Vega has been diagnosed with breast cancer, and the actress isn't holding back her thoughts on the storyline.
It was in last week's episode, “Naked Truth,” that it was revealed that Tommy Vega had breast cancer. The reveal came after she received a mammogram in solidarity with Nancy after Tommy found a lump on her breast following an accidental NSFW picture leak. The series led fans to believe Nancy would have cancer since she had multiple family members die from it, but then came the twist.
In last night’s episode, “Kiddos,” Tommy's cancer was confirmed to be Stage 2B, to be exact. Speaking with TVLine, Torres shared how she initially felt about the storyline, especially considering all that Tommy has been through already:
Trust me, I did not want this. I felt like I had already done plenty in terms of sad, depressing storylines. But no, they wanted one more battle.
Tommy lost her husband, she just broke up with her boyfriend, she nearly died at the beginning of the season and on a few other occasions, and you’d think that they’d finally give her a break. However, it should be pointed out that Sierra McClain had pitched the “genius” storyline before leaving the series, knowing that if anyone could do it justice, Torres could.
That doesn’t mean that she didn’t eventually warm up to it, especially since it meant honoring the real first responders whose lives have been affected by cancer. The Suits alum called it “challenging but also gratifying,” and even though it’s a tough job, it’s certainly an important one:
We want to honor them, just as we try our best to honor our first responders. It’s a level of responsibility that we don’t take lightly.
Working on a show about first responders is challenging as is, but having to juggle emotional storylines such as this one about breast cancer adds even more emotion to it.
With just a handful of episodes until Lone Star's end, it’s hard to predict how it will all go. Toward the end of the most recent episode, Tommy collapsed due to over-exertion, pushing herself after her lumpectomy since she wanted to keep working without telling anyone about her cancer. She wound up in the hospital after her girls called 911 and got her help, finally revealing her diagnosis to her daughters and Judd.
When Nancy visited Tommy in the hospital, she revealed that she was leaving the 126 and it could be for a while too. But she was putting captain duties onto Nancy, knowing that she’d be able to keep things in check. How this storyline will continue will be something to look forward to, because it’s going to be a lot to get used to for the characters, especially Tommy.
The final episodes of 9-1-1: Lone Star air on Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.