9-1-1: Lone Star's Carlos is 'in front of death' after that tunnel crawl, says Rafael Silva

Getting in a fight with TK over Iris was just the beginning of Carlos' problems on Tuesday's episode of 9-1-1: Lone Star.

In season 4's third episode, "Cry Wolf," the Austin police officer (Rafael Silva) sets out on his own to investigate the kidnapping of his (surprise!) wife, Iris (Lyndsy Fonseca), who went missing shortly after his fiancé, TK (Ronen Rubinstein), visited her in hopes she'd sign their divorce papers. In the final moments of the episode, he finds a tunnel leading from the abandoned house where they found Iris to another home — one with someone who apparently owns a shovel and knows how to use it.

As for what's next, Lone Star co-creator Tim Minear previously teased to EW that Carlos "is going to have a run-in with the mother nobody wants," an experience "that is going to bring him almost to the point of death."

With that waiting for viewers in episode 5, "Abandoned," EW asked Silva to break down what's going on with Iris and what's to come for Carlos.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You've told us you've known about Carlos and Iris' relationship since your first days on Lone Star, but how has it been establishing that history with Lyndsy now that it's been revealed on the the show?

RAFAEL SILVA: Right from season 1, I knew that Carlos and Iris had an established relationship. They were either fiancés or they were married. So it's been great, in season 4, to come back and revisit that and allow the story to flourish and to blossom. To justify [that revelation,] I needed to ground Carlos in a way where this relationship made sense — not only for Rafael, not only for the audience, but this relationship needed to be strong enough to justify seeing Carlos in a completely different light. It needed to justify him being so persistent in finding Iris and having that determination and that dedication.

Carlos is someone who has to follow the rules, not only in his job, but I think just as a person. He tends to be a rule follower. But when it comes to Iris.... He's breaking the rule for the person that has broken the rules for him so many times. Iris was the one and only person who was there for him when he was in trouble, when he was in dire need of love, acceptance, and home. He recognizes that and it informs this level of determination that we've never seen Carlos have before.

What is Carlos thinking when he goes rogue to investigate what happened in that abandoned house?

Iris feels like no one believes her. Even Carlos' boss is saying, "I don't believe you." So he has to be the one and sit up and say, "You know what," pardon my French here, "f--- everyone and f--- everything. I'm going to go find her no matter what it takes." And the no matter what it takes is essentially finding out the truth — even if it requires going back to that abandoned house and crawling into a tunnel in this house.

Most people would not crawl into that tunnel without calling someone or getting backup...

In the moment, we see him process everything slowly, and he knows it's bigger than what he thought it was. It wasn't just about Iris missing. This is something planned, this is something premeditated.

So what will happen when Carlos wakes up?

We're going to see Carlos in a position where he has never been in: a complete loss of control over the situation. And this boy's going to be in trouble. I can't really say much more, but Carlos is going to be in a place he often avoids. Carlos is going to be in a place where he.... How do I say this? Some imprisonment.... He is in front of death.

9-1-1: Lone Star airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.

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