During that period, other places were considered to follow Los Angeles (9-1-1) and Austin (9-1-1: Lone Star), with Las Vegas emerging as the favorite at one point.
That has now shifted to America's 50th state, sources said. Representatives for ABC and studio 20th Television, which is behind the emergency room drama franchise, declined comment.
With its paradisiacal tropical setting and many beaches, the allure of Hawaii is evident and it matches the ambitious tone of Murphy's broadcasts, including most recently Doctor Odyssey for ABC.
But filming in Hawaii is not without its challenges - most of them financial - making setting up a 9-1-1 series there not so easy. Home to some of television's most iconic series, such as Gilligan's Island, the two incarnations of Hawaii Five-0 and Magnum, P.I. and Lost, Hawaii is an expensive location that is harder to fit into ever-shrinking television budgets, especially linear TV.
Cost was one of the factors that led CBS to cancel NCIS: Hawaii after three seasons, despite it being the 12th most-watched non-sports program on television with an average of 7.8 million linear viewers and 10 million multiplatform viewers (Live+35).
Fox and producer John Wells recently found a way to produce a drama series, the first Rescue: HI-Surf — which also stars first responders — in Hawaii, while fitting within the network's $3M-$4M per episode budget with a cast which does not contain any big names.
Meanwhile, 9-1-1 on ABC, starring Angela Bassett, reportedly costs about twice as much. Spinoff 9-1-1: Lone Star, starring Rob Lowe, is also significantly more expensive to produce, which played a role in the series ending on Fox after its current fifth season. The 9-1-1 franchise is set up as series with star casts and extensive special effects, so doing that in Hawaii without adjustments would be a challenge.
As reported last month, 9-1-1: Lone Star is not expected to make the same transition, unlike 9-1-1, which moved to ABC after six seasons on Fox. Instead, the plan is to possibly launch a new spin-off series next season. The project is led by Minear and Murphy and is still in the script phase of development.
9-1-1 and Lone Star are created and produced by Murphy, Minear and Brad Falchuk, with Minear leading the franchise as showrunner. The franchise is produced by 20th Television and Ryan Murphy Prods.
