Exclusive: 9-1-1: Lone Star's Rafael Silva breaks down the shocking death before Tarlos wedding
9-1-1: Lone Star season four episode 17 left the wedding between TK Strand (Ronen Rubinstein) and Carlos Reyes (Rafael Silva) with a big question mark over it, when Carlos' father Gabriel Reyes (Benito Martinez) was murdered in cold blood.
The shocking scenes came after Carlos and Gabriel had patched up an earlier fight over why Carlos was refusing to join his father as a Texas Ranger; Carlos' concerns came from the organization's long standing violence against minorities, including Latino men like the Reyes'.
However Carlos - after some advice and a surprising revelation from his mother - mended the relationship and asked his father to be his best man. But when Gabriel later answered the door, he was shot directly in the chest by a masked assailant.
"Our final scene together was when Carlos asked Gabriel to be his best man," Rafael shared with HELLO! during a photoshoot in Los Angeles.
"It was on location, in Pomona, and we just sat down just by ourselves, the only two there, and I thanked Gabriel for playing my father, and having such a presence in my life not just as a person, but also as an actor. It was an emotional moment because I genuinely felt like there was a loss there. You always have to serve the story but this is going to change Carlos' life forever."
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"It's a blessing to be given these storylines," Rafael continued, "because it's not every day that you get a story like this with juicy scenes where you have to focus and step up.
"This is Carlos going through this, but this is equally Rafael having to go through this storyline and for somebody else it may just be another day on set but, no one is tied to Gabriel as I am. I had to own that and I had to honor that as well.
"I wanted the audience to know how much they have a history together, to see this life they have together even though we have not physically seen any of those things. It's my responsibility to own that relationship and be in that relationship as if we had seen all that."
The devastating death wasn't, however, a big surprise to Rafael, as he admits he had realized that something big would need to happen to Carlos to top the hostage situation from earlier in season four.
"I was sitting on the couch at home and it was maybe midnight and I had this thought, 'the only thing that can top Carlos being held hostage is if he loses someone really close to him,' and Gabriel came immediately to mind.
"The next day I'm texting back and forth with executive producer Tim Minear and we start talking about what we see for the wedding, and then he said, 'Hey, I'm thinking something might happen to Carlos.'
"I was like, 'Is Gabriel going to die?' and he's like, 'Who told you, did someone tell you?' "I said, 'I had that thought last night because that's the only thing that can top being held hostage,' and then obviously that immediately broke my heart to have the confirmation because Benito is a fantastic actor and I'm only as good as the person in front of me. Whenever I was with him I felt I had to step up."
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Lone Star season four has given Rafael ample screen time, after three seasons in which many fans complained that he had been relegated to the background, and Rafael acknowledges that although he will always take more stories, it's "just a blessing to be employed as an actor because there are a lot of talented actors out there that do not get a chance to get into the room to audition because they don't even have the representation".
"If they keep giving me more storylines to play with, I'm going to take them with no questions asked," he concluded.
"However I will question the integrity of it, and ask, 'Is it aligned with my character?' Because it's my job to protect Carlos and vouch for Carlos."
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