Exclusively from TVLine:
9-1-1: Lone Star is receiving a visit from Disney royalty next month. Mena Massoud, who played the title role in 2019’s live-action Aladdin, is guest-starring in the Fox drama’s Feb. 8 episode (9/8c) as Salim, an alluring old flame of Marjan’s (Natacha Karam), TVLine has learned exclusively.
“He’s someone from Marjan’s past… and maybe a little bit from her present,” showrunner Tim Minear tells us. “He’s funny, sexy, everything you’d want — and his arrival will give us more insight into who Marjan is.”
And here’s some fun background on how this casting came to be: “When we wrote this role and started casting it, [Karam] brought him up because they’re friends,” Minear says of Massoud. “They’re old buddies. He loves the show, but he also loves her, which means I was able to get him for an episode. [Laughs] The fact that they have an old friendship comes across. Their chemistry with each other is not acting, it’s real. They really care about each other.”
In addition to starring in Aladdin — a role he’ll reprise in a forthcoming sequel — Massoud has been involved in a number of small-screen projects, including Amazon’s Jack Ryan and Hulu’s Reprisal.
Elsewhere in Lone Star‘s Feb. 8 episode, titled “Friends With Benefits,” the 126 arrives on the scene as a wedding “comes crumbling down,” while Grace assists a dominatrix and her slave when they become “tied up” in a life-threatening emergency. Meanwhile, Owen and Gwyneth try to label their new dynamic, and T.K. finally meets Carlos’ parents.