Daniel Sunjata and Denis Leary in the new season of RESCUE ME
While the sixth season of Rescue Me premieres tonight on FX, production on the seventh and final season had just wrapped when I recently spoke with Executive Producer and co-creator Peter Tolan earlier this month. With the series finale set to air in 2011 to coincide with the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Rescue Me is one show that has continually paid tribute to the very real tragedy that happened that day and how it has impacted the lives of New York firefighters and their families. For now, though, what is coming up in the new episodes of season six? Will Tommy (co-creator/executive producer Denis Leary) survive the shooting from last season’s cliffhanger? Assuming he does, will he finally give up the drink? Will he ever choose between ex-wife Janet (Andrea Roth) and nutty Sheila (Callie Thorne)? Tolan gave up the scoop on these questions and more as well as why his post-”Rescue Me” plans have nothing to do with smoke.
Jim Halterman: How does that feel to have wrapped up the series?
Peter Tolan: I think it was the time to do it. The last day we had a lot of the cast members there and some of the kids… when we started working they were young girls and they’ve grown up with us! There were a lot of changes over the years and a lot of interesting things have happened.
JH: Did you and Denis always have an idea what the last episode would be for the show?
PT: Yeah, to be honest, we had several bad visions early on. At one point, Denis said, “I think Tommy goes into a fire and the room is completely ablaze and he just sits in the middle of….CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE
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Tagged as: 9/11, Daniel Sunjata, Denis Leary, FX, Jim Halterman, Peter Tolan, Rescue Me, World Trade Center
Tags: andrea roth, daniel sunjata, david friedman, john mcnamara, mary mccormack