- "I'm a Dreamer. My parents brought me here when I was two. I didn't even know I didn't have an American birth certificate until I was 17. My DACA status is up for renewal, and if I don't pass this test, I won't have a job or any employable skills. I don't know what I'll do if they kick me out. So yeah I'm feelin' the pressure."
- —Mateo Chavez[src]
Mateo Chavez is a main character of FOX's 9-1-1: Lone Star who is a firefighter in Station 126 located in Austin, Texas. He debuts in the first episode of the first season and is portrayed by starring cast member Julian Works.
History[]
Early Life[]
When he was two years old, Mateo was brought to the United States by his parents as an immigrant while they stayed in Mexico[1]. He did not find out that he didn't have an American birth certificate until he was 17 years old. As a result, he enrolled in the DACA program in order to be able to work in the country. [2] He lived with his aunt and uncle until he was 16 years old. During that time, Mateo was a delinquent who always getting in a lot of trouble and when he painted a school in pink paint before setting it on fire, he almost got caught and sent to jail which would've have ended up in him being deported back to Mexico. Marvin, then, decided to take his place and falsely confess to the crime which ended up with him being sent to juvie and Mateo felt like he owed him for that for the rest of his life.
As a result, Mateo ceased his troublemaking and became a better young man.
Joining the 126[]
While in the fire academy, he set multiple AFD academy records in multiple categories in field stuff. However, he failed the written test four times, but remained regardless, knowing he was born to do the job. He was referred to as a "frequent flyer" and was hired by Deputy Fire Chief Alden Radford to be his driver. One morning, when the Deputy came in with paper applicants for the new 126 crew, Owen Strand notices that Mateo is cleaning the inside of the door handles of the car, sparking his interest and requests for an interview to hire him. Chavez is initially confused that Owen had picked him to get an interview, but he assures he is correct. When asked why he was cleaning them since no one would know if they were dirty, Mateo responds with that he would know. Mateo tells him that all his teachers growing up had told him he was a little slow, but Owen reassures him that he isn't stupid and that he thinks that he is a thorough, relentless person, exactly who was needed for the 126. Shortly after he is hired, Owen had him tested for severe dyslexia, which proves to be true.
Working in the 126[]
Beginning his job as a firefighter as a rookie, Mateo is given the nickname, "Probie" by the rest of the 126. He is often put in smaller tasks away from the action during rescues, such as being a lookout during a factory explosion, holding pets, or pulling down the flag outside the firehouse. Despite occasionally feeling held back, he takes most of the tasks in stride and rarely complains about them.
A rescue where that shakes him, however, is at a house where he is tasked with just passing out water bottles and blankets for victims during the tornadoes. As the 126 successfully rescues two children, their father, who was gratefully thanking the team's efforts to Owen moments ago, collapses and dies. The responders discover the man never reported his own internal injuries just so they could divert the resources to the children. Mateo is notably shaken, having felt helpless through the rescue and the death was preventable if he was in the case and did something. Owen later consoles him, telling him not to beat himself up over it because it wasn't under his control. [3]
Academy Exam[]
In "Friends Like These", he studies for his academy exam at the firehouse because it's impossible to study with his roommates. Owen asks Marjan to help Mateo passes the exam because she has the highest score in the firehouse. Marjan tells Judd, TK and Paul that each of them have to read a part of the Austin FD Academy Manual so Mateo can listen to them. They also ask him questions when they're working or even resting. Marjan asks him questions from the test to help him. She tells him to not put so much pressure on himself but he tells her that he has to because if he fails this test, he'd get deported. He goes to pass the test but instead of Marjan being the one asking him questions, he comes face-to-face with his old captain but in the end, he got a 92%.
Housing Issues[]
In "A Little Help From My Friends", Mateo is woken up by his roommates playing music, laughing and partying. He leaves his bed to tell them to quit it because he just came back from a 24 hours shift and need sleep. Few instant later, he realises that he can smells gas and tells everyone to leave the house quickly. Once outside, he tells the other that the house could've explode with all of them in it but tells them that as long as no open flame were still on, it should be fine. One of his roommate, then, tells him that she left some incense burning in her room and a few seconds later, the house explodes. Later in the week, Owen finds Mateo sleeping in the training room after they both got kicked out of the firehouse by the next shift. Mateo asks him why Owen isn't at home and Owen asks him the same. Then, Mateo reveals to Owen that his house blew up and he didn't tell anyone because he was ashamed of the fact that he's a firefighter and let his house exploded. At the end of their discussion, Owen says that it sounds like Mateo is looking for a new roommate and when Mateo confirms it, Owen tells him that he knows someone who's looking for one too, himself. During shift, Mateo joins Paul and Marjan and he's nauseous at the mention of food due to being hangover. He reveals to them that he has now become roommate with Owen and last night had been hell. There's a flashback from the last night where Mateo asks Owen if TK will be cool with him staying in his room and Owen reassures him about TK not living there anymore. Owen gets the tequilla out and they both start drinking, a lot. After a while, a drunk Owen tells Mateo that he didn't reschedule his cancer surgery, he cancelled it because he doesn't feel like it's the right time anymore. Mateo reveals it to Paul and Marjan and during a call, later in the day, they start talking about what happened with Owen but Owen interrupts them as they are talking about it on the open channel.
After an intervention TK staged for Owen, Mateo tells Owen that he's going to crash at Paul's place for the night because he really needs some sleep. In "Slow Burn", he's living with Owen again. In "The Big Heat", Mateo is at Owen's house with Buttercup when the police comes in with a warrant to search the premises. Later, at the firehouse, he's telling TK, Marjan, Paul and Judd about it. At night, Mateo is cleaning up the house before TK comes in and he tries to comfort him about Owen's arrest. After they lost their house, Carlos and TK start living with Owen and Mateo as well.
Dust Storm[]
In "Dust to Dust", the 126 is separated in different firehouses and Mateo ends up working alone at the 129 where the other men are bigots and treats him extremely badly. The captain refuses to let him come on a call with them and tells him that Mateo has to go pick up their lunches. Mateo goes out to pick them up and ends up being stuck in the middle of the dust storm, when it disappears, he sees passengers of a plane that crashed and starts treating as many people as he can, saving the lives of many. Soon he learns that some people are stuck in an elevator on top of a building and he runs up there, trying to save the people stuck inside, he's joined by Owen and the rest of the 126 who just arrived and together, they save the people stuck in the elevator. Once they're outside, the 129 and its captain arrive too and they start making fun of Mateo and telling him that he shouldn't be out there, Mateo snaps at them right before the captain passes out, while TK, Tommy and Nancy come to the rescue.
Once the 126 and co. are at the firehouse to rebuild it, Owen announces to Mateo and the rest that when the firehouse reopens, Mateo would be an official firefighter and no longer on probationary period. He's also present when Billy tells them that he's shutting down the 126.
Ice Storm[]
In "The Big Chill", Mateo is still with the 129 but the situation seems to be better for him there. Captain Tatum calls him his best guy during a call with Tommy, TK and Nancy where Mateo helps them save a man with a huge part of glass stuck on his throat.
The 129 joins the 122 at the collapsed and on fire shelter where Mateo sees Paul and Judd. Captain Tatum tells his team to gear up, find a hydrant that hasn't frozen yet and stop the fire. They put out the fire and create an ice palace. Carlos runs to Judd, Paul and Mateo to tell them that someone is still stuck inside, a teenager volunteer named Lindsey. Paul tells him that they had a list and Carlos replies that she was the one in charge of the list so she didn't count herself. Captain Andrews tells them that if they send a team in, they could be looking at a secondary collapse before Captain Tatum says they'd have to assume she survived the first collapse. Tatum tells Mateo that if he hears any sounds of the roof cracking, he has to get out of there and Andrews tells his team that if anyone isn't confident going inside, they can stay outside with no judgement. Once inside, Judd, Mateo and Paul and their teams are looking for Lindsey and they separate to have more space to explore. Judd calls out for her and they hear banging from Lindsey as a response. While Paul is separated from the rest, a part of the roof collapses and projects him away from where he was standing.
In "Thin Ice", Mateo is with Judd when he manages to convince Captain Andrews to let them go into the building to go save Paul and Lindsey. Captain Tatum stops him and tells Mateo that the 129 has another call they need to assist. He tells Mateo that their house have to move, and Mateo replies that while the 129 is house, Paul is his family and he wants to stay there and help save him. Tatum tells him that Mateo may not be the brightest kid but he's a good one and since Andrews accepts that Mateo joins his house for the rescue, he doesn't have a problem with Mateo staying behind either.
Inside the building, Judd leads the team composed of Mateo and some members of the 122. He tells them to be safe and to not compromise the structure. They scream for Paul and tries to find him through their thermal detector without success. Mateo says that maybe they're going in the wrong direction, if they even know which direction is the right one. Judd tells him that they don't but he knows someone that could help them figure it out. Judd calls Grace through dispatch and tells her that the last time they saw Paul was at the south wall while Grace is looking at the building schematics of the structure. Grace realises that they're somewhere on the basketball court and Judd confirms it when he finds a hoop, Mateo telling him that "his lady is good" and Judd replying that it's why he called her. Judd asks Grace how they should proceed to find Paul and she tells him that their best bet is to "double back through the Alpha Bravo wall" because there's a lot of load-bearing beams and a good chance of air pockets for them to make it through. Judd thanks her and they're interrupted by Paul's voice on the radio, Mateo asks him where he is and Paul replies that he's in some sort of locker room, Grace tells them that the locker room is 25 yards northeast to where they are right now.
Judd and Mateo get out of the structure and join Captain Andrews outside again because they couldn't get to them from the inside. Andrews asks them what they suggest and Judd says that they'll try to make it through the outside with a couple of pneumatic jackhammers before opening a hole in a wall and make it to the locker room. Andrews tells them that vibration could make the building collapse even more, Judd agrees that it's a risk and Mateo says that Paul and Lindsey won't make it out of here if they don't try. Andrews tells them that he gets the feeling that even if he says no, they'll do it anyway and Judd tells him he's right. Judd radio-in Paul and tells him they're about to make a hole in the wall so it might get a little shaky where they are. After minutes, they manage to make a hole and Mateo and Judd go through it, helping Lindsey and Paul out of here.
In "Shock and Thaw", Paul is in his hospital bed when Judd and Mateo comes in. Both of them hug him and Judd asks him how he is feeling. Paul replies that his core temperature is still 90 degrees but that the doctor says he will keep all his fingers and toes. Then, he tells Judd that his turnout coat is in the cabinet and Judd thanks him for looking after it for him. Paul thanks them for saving his life out there and that he knew if anyone was going through these walls, it'd be his boys from the 126. Judd tells him that it's because he knows how they do. Paul continues by telling them he loves them and and when Mateo offers the idea of hugging again, Judd hugs him at the waist since he's sitting and Mateo is standing, before saying that they love him too. After, Paul asks them what happened with Marjan, if she actually got Owen to sign the apology letter to Billy. Judd replies that it remains to be seen. Paul asks if Owen is still being stubborn and Judd replies that it's because they haven't heard back from Marjan yet. Paul says that he feels like she would've checked in by now, Mateo replies that cell service is out and that her and Owen are probably riding out the snow together now. Judd jokes saying that God will have to help Owen if he doesn't sign the letter before walking out of there. Mateo says that knowing Marjan if he doesn't sign, he's not walking out at all.
They're interrupted by Lindsey's parents coming into the room with arms full of gifts bags before being followed by Lindsey attached to an IV bag. She apologises to Paul for her parents who insisted on bringing him gifts to thank him. Paul says that it's okay and that they didn't have to do this. Cole - Lindsey's father - says that he saves their daughter's life, it's the least they can do. First, they give a lambswool throw since he's recovering from hypothermia. He adds that he'll open the Rolexes later, Mateo asks Judd if he really said Rolex with a "s" and starts looking through the bags before Judd slaps his hand. Lindsey apologises once again about her parents. Cole thinks Paul doesn't like the blanket and asks him if he wants another color because they can get him a new one in a special order. Mateo says that Paul should say he likes it so they don't kill another lamb, Judd reassures him by saying they don't kill lambs, they just shave them. Paul says that it's a very lovely blanket but they're too generous. Cole replies that they're just getting started before asking Paul if he wants a Maserati. Judd and Mateo starts laughing and Paul looks confused repeating what Cole just said. Cole confirms that he means the car unless Paul wants a truck. Paul replies that he couldn't accept this, it's just too much. Mateo says that he could accept it, remembering them that he was at the rescue too with the jackhammers. Cole asks them to forgive him before asking for Mateo's last name, Judd stops him and tells him that they're alright and that the reward of being a firefighter is the job itself. Cole says that he respects that because he feels the same way about his work, Judd asks him what his line of work is and Cole replies that he's in the milk cartons. Mateo asks him how can he offers all of that by selling milk and Cole corrects him, saying he's selling the cartons, not the milk.
In "Push", Marjan is back at the 122 for work after Owen dropped her off. Judd sees her first and tells her he tried to reach her and asks her if she managed to get in touch with Owen. Marjan replies that she saw him and Judd asks her where he is now. Marjan says she assume he's at home and asks Judd why he wants to not that before Judd curses, realising he still has no service. Then, Mateo arrives and asks her if she manages to get him to sign the apology letter to Billy, Marjan is confused and asks him what he's doing here, at the 122. Mateo replies that Captain Tatum assigned him to the 122 when they were trying to dig Paul out. Marjan asks him that they had to dig Paul out of what and Mateo tells her about the shelter that collapsed. Marjan tells him that Mateo should be aware he starts his stories in the middle before asking if they managed to get him out before asking where he is when Mateo confirms her they did. Mateo tells her that he's at the hospital and when Marjan asks if he's okay, Mateo replies that yes, he is okay; Marjan understanding that someone isn't okay.
Return of the 126[]
Weeks later, Owen and Marjan are outside the 126 watching as it is about to be demolished. They're soon joined by Tommy, Nancy, Judd, Paul, Mateo and TK who hold a box full of pastries and they share hugs when they see each other again. Owen asks them what are the odds of those pastries being gluten free, Nancy answers that there's no way and that everything is bad in those pastries, Paul adding that today they're eating their feelings. Owen gives up and asks TK to gives him a bear claw. TK asks Marjan what she wants, handing her the box and she tells everyone to just save her one with tons of sugar. Marjan thanks them for being there and Mateo tells her they would never miss it - again. Paul says that the 126 being demolished stings and Judd agrees, saying that he spent the best years of his life there. When the ball is about to swing, Marjan gets a notification and realises that her GoFundMe finally got fully funded. TK asks her to stop messing with them and she tells him she's not, Owen is surprised that someone gave them $4.6 millions and Marjan tells him that they actually got $5 millions. Owen asks her who would do that and Marjan replies it's someone called Cole Robertson who no one know except for Paul since Cole is Lindsey's father. Owen and Marjan run to the foremen and tell them to stop.
Later, Mateo is present at the opening ceremony of the 126, standing beside Judd, Paul and Marjan and pushing in their firetruck into the firehouse once Owen's speech is over. At the party, Mateo teams up with Nancy in a game against Paul and Lindsey which they lose when Paul asks Marjan to pick a winner and she chose Lindsey since her parents made the whole reopening possible. Then he's dancing with everyone else.
Going back to the 129[]
In "Parental Guidance", while he's with the 126, Mateo gets a phone call from a bartender telling him his dad is wasted and told him to call Mateo. Mateo tells that to Judd, TK and Nancy. Judd asks him what his dad is doing there and Mateo replies that he doesn't know because for one, his dad doesn't drink and two, he's in Guadalajara. When he goes there he found a drunk and injured Captain Tatum, Mateo asks him why he told the bartender he was his son and Tatum replies that because his own son wouldn't come pick him up when he needed it. Mateo realises that this situation was caused by the death of a firefighter from the 129, Lieutenant Darby. Mateo offers to bring back Tatum home but when he passes out, Mateo takes him to his place for the night.
The next morning, Tatum realises he's late to Lieutenant Darby's funeral and when he's anxious over messing it up, Mateo offers to go with him considering how long he worked with them at the 129. When he starts to get confused in his speech, Mateo helps him out but when he joins him back in the audience, Tatum turns to Mateo and asks him who died. Then, Mateo is called into Owen's office by Owen and Captain Tatum and when he goes there, Tatum tells him that he told Owen what happened at the funeral, Mateo is happy about it until he realises that he meant Mateo helping him, not the moment he forgot who's funeral it was. Tatum tells him that he's here today to ask him to become his new Lieutenant, which Mateo accepts when he realises he'll be able to help him more that way.
The next day when he arrives at the 129, Mateo meets Barrett, the probie of the firehouse who calls him Lieutenant and offers to take his bag. Once they're inside, Tatum asks what "Grunt" (what the Probies are called at his firehouse) is doing and Barrett starts talking but Tatum cuts him off, saying he's talking to Mateo. Tatum asks Mateo what he is doing here and Mateo reminds him that he hired him to replace Lieutenant Darby. Tatum replies that he of course remembers and he's just annoying Mateo. Later, Tatum is angry at something and when Mateo goes to ask him what's going on, Tatum tells him that the Department is on him about reports but Mateo notices that the papers in front of him are take-out menus and not reports but he stays quiet and tells Tatum to let him handle the reports.
Later on a call at a factory that's on fire, Tatum tells the 126 to go on the ladder in the south wing to deal with the fire after he and Mateo realised it was highly dangerous to go there. Mateo quickly joins them and tells them to not go there because it's too dangerous and that wing could explode at any times, Tatum replies that he has never said that and then Mateo turns to Owen, begging him to believe him which Owen does before he tells Marjan and Judd to not go on the ladder. Tatum asks Owen what he's doing and Owen replies that he's trusting Tatum's Lieutenant before Tatum retorts that Mateo isn't his Lieutenant anymore and that he's fired from the 129. Soon after that, the factory explodes, but thanks to Mateo, no additional casualties resulted.
The next morning, Owen joins Mateo outside their house. Mateo tells Owen that he thinks Tatum has some sort of dementia which Owen agrees with because he knew something wasn't right during their earlier call. He asks Mateo how long he has known about it and Mateo replies that it was since Lieutenant Darby's funeral. Mateo says that he doesn't want to report Tatum to the Department and he asks Owen if he thinks he should do it, Owen replies that as his friend, he would recommend it and as his captain, he's going to require it. Mateo asks if that means he's getting his old job back and Owen jokes that if he didn't, it'd be awkward to be roommates.
Later, Tatum finds Mateo at the bar after he had too many drinks and tells him that he'll take Mateo home. Mateo starts telling that he went to the headquarters today to report him about his dementia but stops himself, Tatum continuing his sentence for him because the Chief called him in his office the second Mateo left so he already knew what Mateo was going to say. Tatum tells Mateo that he's grateful for him because he kept him from killing anyone by doing what he did and that he turns in his resignation today. Tatum tells Mateo that making him a Lieutenant was the best move he ever did and he tells that he wishes he could say he'll always remember him but it's not highly possible. Mateo replies that he'll remember for both of them.
Marvin[]
In "Double Trouble", Marvin calls Mateo from jail due to joyriding again. His bail is set at $25,000 and he asks his cousin to help him out again. Nancy helps and loans him the money. Unfortunately, as soon as Marvin got out, he stole a Porsche and crashed it, causing his death. Mateo feels bad and starts drinking heavily, falling out in Owen's living room and hitting his head on the table. Later, he's found by Nancy and Owen who try to stop Mateo from going to the police station and confess to the crimes he commited during his teenage years. Owen agrees to drive him to the "station" except he drives him to the fire station where he tells him that Mateo is making up for his past crimes everyday he comes to work and that he can't lose him.
Personality[]
Mateo is a person who always see the best in everyone and who is really easy to love but knows how to fight back when someone disrespects him. He works hard and never complains even when he's tasked with small missions at the firehouse. He's funny and often make his friends laugh by his actions and words.
Relationships[]
Nancy Gillian[]
Nancy and Mateo are revealed to be in a relationship in "Spring Cleaning". They glanced intensively at each other in the first episode of season three when they met on a call right as Nancy leaves the scene with Tommy and TK. Later, he supported her during the softball game and gave her the MVP trophy at the ceremony in TK and Carlos' loft. When TK and Owen are stuck on a plane that's about to crash and the 126 is watching, Mateo took Nancy's hand in his and they held hands until they knew TK and Owen were back on safe land. Then, in "Impulse Control", when a man Mateo was talking to shot into the ambulance where Nancy was, he decided to go check up on her in the locker room and they talked about both of them feeling bad about the situation: Mateo because the shooter was right by his side, Nancy because she had to watch a man die while he stared into her eyes. When she was about to leave, Mateo asked her out for coffee and Nancy accepted with a smile. In "Spring Cleaning", they're in bed together when Owen almost catch them when he came to ask Mateo a question, they talk and Nancy offer the option to coming clean to the firehouse which Mateo accepts without really any want. Once at the firehouse, Nancy said that they should do it right now but Mateo refuses saying that Judd isnt there so they would've to do it all over again when Nancy tried to defend her point, Carlos arrives and Mateo uses him as distraction. When they're playing catan at TK and Carlos' place, Nancy "betrays" her alliance with Mateo since he doesn't want to come clean to the firehouse and Mateo takes it badly, leaving the loft. Later in the week, Nancy goes back to the loft, thinking they're going to play games, but it's actually an intervention planned by Marjan, Paul, TK and Carlos about her and Mateo's recent behaviours, they then learn that the pair has been sleeping together ever since the shooting on the call. They talk and Mateo reveals that his problem is that she's taller than him and he doesn't want people to mock her in the streets for having a shorter boyfriend, Nancy tells him that she always has been taller than any of her partners and that she doesn't care, neither should be. They make up and then tell the group that they're going for a coffee, in another words, they're going to have sex. During TK and Carlos' engagement announcement, they arrived holding hands after being left downstairs by Paul and Marjan because they were making out.
Marjan Marwani[]
Mateo and Marjan are close friends. She's the one helping him the most when he has to pass his academy exam and who cheers him up when he's feeling down. When he learns about Marjan's engagement to Salim, he's sad because he doesn't want her to leave Austin at all. Marjan is shown to be very protective over Mateo, for example when she learns that the tattoo artist and the people who were there made fun of him when the tattoo he thought of had a typo on it and she went to the tattoo shop with him to get them to redo it, for free.
TK Strand[]
Mateo and TK are close friends. Mateo often acts like a little brother to TK. TK (and the rest of the firecrew) helped Mateo pass his exam by reading manuals to him via recording to make it easier for him. When TK comes to the station, Mateo hugs him, forgetting about his wound. Mateo is the one to comfort TK in "The Big Heat" when the latter comes to Owen's place after Owen gets arrested and his fight with Carlos.
Paul Strickland[]
Mateo and Paul are close friends. Paul is shown to be protective over Mateo like a older brother would be, for example when he learned that the man making Mateo pass his writing exam made him look like a complete idiot. He's also teasing him every once in a while.
Owen Strand[]
Mateo and Owen are close. Owen is very supportive of Mateo through everything and after Mateo's house exploded, he invites him to become his roommates and the two have been living together ever since. In "Child Care", Mateo helps Owen with online dating after Owen starts being called "One Night Strand" at the firehouse. They have a father-son-like relationship.
Trivia[]
- Julian Works, who portrays him, previously appeared in the original series as troublemaker Marvin, who was last seen being taken away by Athena Grant in "7.1" to prison for carjacking and fleeing from police, but she promised to write a letter to the judge to shorten his sentence as a result of him saving a worker from a car wreck caused by the major earthquake in LA. The resemblance between the two characters was explained in Season 2 episode "Hold the Line", when Mateo asked Buck to check in on his LA based cousin, Marvin.
- He's allergic to cats.[4][5]
- His favorite Marvel character is Thor.[6][7]
- His favorite Pokémon is Charizard.
- After his house exploded in "A Little Help From My Friends", he became roommates with Owen and now lives at 1234 Iron Mountain DR.
Appearances[]
| Season One | ||||
| "Pilot" | "Yee-Haw" | "Texas Proud" | "Act of God" | "Studs" |
| "Friends Like These" | "Bum Steer" | "Monster Inside" | "Awakening" | "Austin, We Have a Problem" |
| "Slow Burn" | "The Big Heat" | "One Day" | "Dust to Dust" |
| "Shift-Less" | "Spring Cleaning" | "A Bright and Cloudless Morning" |
| "A House Divided" | "Best Of Men" | "In Sickness and In Health" |
| Season Five | |||||
| "Both Sides, Now" | "Trainwrecks" | "CI2" | "My Way" | "" | "" |
| "" | "" | "" | "" | "Impact" | "" |
Gallery[]
.jpg "Mateo Chavez (1).jpg (521 KB)")
