Peter Krause is about to return to our screens in Line of Fire. Joining him are Hope Davis, Tommy O’Brien, Kat Cunning, and Taylor Bloom. And when the show premieres September 21st we’ll get to know the Hollingsworth family and who is after them after a U.S. Marshal falls in the line of duty.
To celebrate 100 years of NBC and to prepare fans for Line of Fire, creator, writer, and showrunner Joshua Safran and Jenna Bush Hager joined publicist Jackie Hernandez to talk about the new series during a NBC Backlot panel. They were joined by executive producer Ben Spector. And of course, the heads of this family, Krause and Davis.
Here are 10 things we learned at the Line of Fire Season 1 NBC Backlot panel!
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1. The parents marriage is rocky
Krause plays Mike Hollingsworth and Davis plays Jane Hollingsworth. They’re the head of this family in crisis. But according to Davis, “they’re not living in the same house when the show opens.” That tells you that the marriage is in crisis. That doesn’t mean things are over though. “We have some secrets from one another and some things that we never could agree on, but are we done with each other yet? I don’t think so.”
2. The show has some comedy
When asked about the different dynamics on Line of Fire in comparison to 9-1-1, Krause started talking about the different elements of the show to look forward to. And we didn’t expect comedy to be in that. He said, “It’s really just been a great experience because the show works in so many different ways. It’s suspenseful. There’s some action-thriller elements. There is crime solving by crime solvers. And there’s also a lot of, you know family dynamics to explore, and there’s some surprising comedy in the show as well.”
3. Peter Krause isn’t retiring anytime soon
With Krause departing from 9-1-1 after 8 seasons, fans have been watching out for what he’ll do next. And one of the questions, before booking Line of Fire, is if he would retire anytime soon. Krause said, “No. I like having a job. I like having a place to go and a thing to do. I’m not ready to retire just yet.” Davis added, “Peter is a very hard worker. And you love to work.” And Krause added, “I do, and I like television and I like the ongoing story, but I also like the ongoing work relationships that you get to have.”
4. It’s not a show about politics, kind of
Considering the world we live in today, the timing of a show that is political can make some people uncomfortable, even if its a procedural. But showrunner Safran said that Line of Fire is about “the world of politics but not being a show about politics.” Basically, these family members are doing their jobs, regardless if they see eye to eye with everyone they work with. “It’s the job. It’s about the love of the job. It’s about the love of the work.”
5. An Oscar winner did the casting
Cassandra Kulukundis did the casting for Line of Fire. She’s also the first person ever to win an Oscar for Best Casting. She won during the category’s inaugural premiere at the 2026 Oscars for her work in casting in One Battle After Another. Apparently showrunner Safran has a long-running relationship with her on previous shows.
6. Already these are their kids
Multiple times during the panel Krause and Davis referred to O’Brien, Cunning, and Blood as the “kids,” which speaks great to the relationship these two have with their on screen children.
When Krause was talking about the show and how fantastic the cast was, he said, “And the kids – I call them kids on the show – are also fantastic.” And then later on when he was talking with Davis he said, “It’s fascinating to see you also with the kids, who — these young actors. They’re really not kids. We call them kids. I think they’re going to be big stars.”
Later on Davis added how she was trying to learn her lines and came out into the hallway like “Kids, come on.” Krause added, “She was shushing our children.”
MORE: 9-1-1 Killed Off Bobby Nash Off for Realism—But This Show Has Never Been Realistic
7. The script is what got Peter Krause
When talking about what drew him to Line of Fire, it’s the same thing that drew him to 9-1-1: the script. Krause said, “What drew me to this show was the script, and then I give credit to a pair of my agents, Peter Levine and Jaime Feld at CAA who stressed I should read a script, and I was glad I did.
8. Line of Fire has multiple consultants
With a lot of these characters being part of federal agencies, the show wanted to make sure that they got it right. And according to executive producer Spector, “We brought on people like Steve [a former Secret Service agent] and we have an FBI consultant and we have a U.S. Marshal consultant for the verisimilitude.”
9. The show is a mix of episodic and serialized
With such a heavy plot twist in the first episode, it’s nice to hear that this show will be finding a balance between a mystery that runs the whole season and also episodic mysteries. And this was confirmed by showrunner Safran who said, “You’re going to see one or more of these family members solve a case every week. That’s very important to all of us, including me. Like, I love that. I’ve been very excited to do a procedural forever.”
10. It’s about family first, job second
Some people love procedurals for the cases. Some love it for what happens after the case is closed. And for this show, showrunner Safran wanted to emphasize that after where it’s more about family first and job second.
He said, “I love that this is a show about family. There are families of multiple disciplines, where there are families where somebody’s a cop and somebody’s a lawyer or somebody’s a doctor or somebody’s a judge. And just you never go home on these shows with these people, and that was the initial genesis of this show, is what happens at home.”
So Line of Fire is what happens when the case is over. But “it really does look at how we all have to work together to solve anything.”
Line of Fire premieres Monday, September 21st at 10p.m. ET.
