NEW YORK – More than a year after his beloved“9-1-1” fire captainwas shockingly killed off the show, Peter Krausereturns to TV as veteran Secret Service agent Mike Hollingsworth in NBC's “Line of Fire,” the TV project from executive producer and formerfirst daughter Jenna Bush Hager.
“Line of Fire” (premiering Monday, Sept. 21, at 10 p.m. ET/PT) stars Krause, 61, as the head of a high-functioning, dysfunctional Washington, D.C. family, each member working a different corner of federal law enforcement – two generations of Secret Service, the FBI, U.S. Marshals and Department of Justice.
Though Bush Hager produced the series, it does not reflect her life growing up in the White House under her dad, 43rd President George W. Bush, particularly when
it comes to the onscreen romance between Hollingsworth's Secret Service son Mike "Micah" Hollingsworth Jr. (Tommy O'Brien) and his charge, the fictional president's daughter.
“On her behalf, I will say that she did not have an affair with a Secret Service agent,” Krause tells USA TODAY of Bush Hager. "My son on the show, played by Tommy O'Brien, is also a Secret Service agent. And he may or may not be having an affair with the President's daughter."
"Today" show fourth hour co-host Bush Hager is "an asset for sure," Krause says, and a sharp enough media observer to drop a quick line to him after he mistakenly referred to her as "Jennifer" during an interview.
"She got back to me on that one," Krause says with a laugh, adding, "She has a terrific sense of humor."
"Line of Fire" – including the eyebrow-raising "The Bodyguard" storyline – comes from creator and executive producer Joshua Safran ("Gossip Girl"). Safran met Bush Hager through her sister, New York University classmate Barbara Pierce Bush,and pitched the "Line of Fire" concept with a few other show possibilities. Surprisingly, Bush Hager went to the racy fictional universe, parallel to her own real past.
"I'm sure she probably had a day where she thought, 'People would assume it's me onscreen,'" Safran says. "And then she was like, 'I want the juicy story. I don't care what people think.' But this is not the story of Jenna Bush Hager."
To make the show as realistic as possible, Bush Hager put the "Line of Fire" team in touch with Secret Service consultant Steve Hughes,a 25-year agency veteran who served on the presidential details of her dad and Bill Clinton. Hughes wasn't spilling presidential secrets, but Krause was happy to learn that Bush was "incredibly punctual – specifically about Air Force One, the people's plane."
"It's not a documentary, it's a TV show," Safran adds of the soapy fictional drama. "But we're trying to hew as closely as we can."
This carried over to teaching Krause how to exit most any presidential vehicle properly, as well as Hughes signing off on the set modeled from the Secret Service's Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
"We zhuzhed it up obviously for TV. But when Steve walked on the set, he was like, 'Wow!'" Safran says. "That level of detail is important to us."
A father and son working in the Secret Service? We'll call that family drama. But an affair between a single, age-appropriate president's daughter and a Secret Service agent stops perfectly short of "no way."
"Steve didn't know if you'd get fired if you had a consensual relationship with a single party," Safran says. "It hasn't happened in their history. So I'm happy to invent that."
"Line of Fire" comes 17 months after Krause's beloved "9-1-1" character, fire captain Bobby Nash, died after being infected with a deadly virus on April 17, 2025, after eight seasons.
"There were a lot of upset fans about that one," says Krause. "I love Bobby Nash. He was a great character."
But Krause says he didn't intend to "jump right back into a series" after "9-1-1." However, things changed when "Line of Fire" fell into his lap.
"There are thriller elements, suspense and unexpected comedy," Krause says, noting he was particularly impressed by the twists and turns in Safran's script. "It's a complicated show. And I love all the family drama."
Family drama isn't an unfamiliar concept for Krause. After all, he starred on NBC's "Parenthood" for six seasons from 2010 to 2015, playing family patriarch Adam Braverman.
"Line of Fire" takes a very different spin from "Parenthood," with Krause playing the retiring Hollingsworth, who is long separated from his wife Jane (Hope Davis), a U.S. Marshal. In addition to their son Micah (O'Brien), the pair share two more grown children: FBI daughter Clare (Kat Cunning) and newly minted Justice Department hire son Russ (Taylor Bloom).
For all the crossfire in this D.C. drama, "Line of Fire" dodges one Washington firefight entirely:politics.
"We can speak to things that happen in the world of politics, but this is not the same reality," Krause says. "If you are tired of the political reality that we're all experiencing, you can check in on our show, where you have a different version."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Did Jenna Bush Hager's life inspire 'Line of Fire'? Star Peter Krause weighs in
