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Ronen Rubinstein of TV’s “9-1-1: Lone Star” opens up about his gay firefighting character

Fox’s emergency drama 9-1-1: Lone Star features young firefighter T.K. Strand who is portrayed by Ronen Rubinstein. The character is openly gay and is the son of the fire captain Owen Strand (Rob Lowe).

Rubinstein spoke with ET Online about the show. Here is an excerpt from the part about the gay storyline:

A big portion of T.K.’s story is his romance with Carlos. Fans are engaged with that pairing. Did that surprise you? Are you excited by that?

That definitely has been the most talked about topic on the show and it’s definitely the most asked question for me. But I’m still not getting used to it and I sort of like that. It started, literally, from our very first promo when you saw T.K. and Carlos kissing. It’s a special moment for television and for this couple to be portrayed and represented on network television because this is usually a couple that you would see on cable or streaming. The fact that [executive producer] Ryan Murphy and the writers are willing to show this on primetime television, it’s pretty epic. I am beyond honored to be part of it. And I think that’s why people are grasping to it and are connecting to it because they’ve never seen anything like this on their television.

It’s just nice to be able to connect with a big part of the world that looks like Carlos and T.K. And I love that the writers made it a normal thing. It wasn’t a coming out story. A lot of times you’d see a gay couple on television there’s something really dramatic and usually sad involved with it. And this is just like, “Yeah, this is just normal. This is just how it is”. It’s as if it was a straight couple on television. It’s been amazing to be a part of that and to tell this story and to connect with so many people. I talk to people every single day about this and they’re just beyond grateful to see this and they’re excited to see where it goes.

What do you personally enjoy about T.K. and Carlos’ blossoming connection?

The beauty of T.K. and Carlos is, on paper it seems like such a perfect relationship, but you have to remember that T.K. is going through so much in his own life. And on top of that, T.K. and Carlos are first responders and it’s one of the most stressful careers you can choose, to be a fireman and a cop. This is a relationship that’s going to have to grow in time in order to bloom into something truly beautiful and we definitely have glimpses into that. They definitely are extremely fond of each other, but I think they’re both in a very delicate time in their lives, especially T.K. I hope for the best for this relationship.

After the last episode, it seems like they’re in a good place and they’re possibly starting to go steady. Is your hope that they get serious down the line? Do they reach that point by the end of the season?

My hope comes from a selfish point of view because I just love working with Rafael Silva. Te more scenes I could share with him, the happier I’ll be. [The last episode] was the first time that they showed themselves to another member of the team. They not only welcomed Paul (Brian Michael Smith) into their community, but they also showed Paul that, “Hey, we’re a thing.” It’d be interesting to see, down the line, how much of themselves they reveal to the rest of the crew. And yeah, oh man, I hope it works out because Rafael has been amazing. All the scenes with him are… they’re usually my favorite. So, yeah, I sure hope so.

FILE UNDER: Television

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