On Call Creator Tim Walsh’s Personal Story of ‘Second Chances’ Influenced Lori Loughlin Casting: ‘Huge Believer’ (Exclusive)

When it came to casting Prime Video’s On Call, Tim Walsh says Lori Loughlin was a no brainer.

In an exclusive conversation with PEOPLE, the showrunner opens up about how his own experience with spending time in jail and his personal philosophy of giving second chances influenced his decision to cast the Full House alum in the crime-chasing series.

On Call follows veteran and rookie officer duo Traci Harmon (Troian Bellisario) and Alex Diaz (Brandon Larracuente) as they go on patrol together in Long Beach, Calif., per the official synopsis.

The eight-episode series (streaming now) features a mix of “bodycam, dash-camera, and cellphone footage to create a cinema verité effect,” as Traci and Alex settle into their new dynamic together.

Walsh tells PEOPLE that he was “pretty much raised by a single mom” and discovered his affinity for making film when he was just 6 years old. As a teenager, he found himself getting into “a lot of trouble with the law.” At 18, there was a point in time where he was looking at 10 years in prison, until he turned his life around.

“I remember still to this day being in that jail cell when I was 18 and I was alone,” he recalls. “I was like, ‘If I get out of here, I am promising myself. I’m never going to look back.’ And thankfully I was given that chance.”

Walsh then earned his GED and used his acceptance into film school to get himself to Los Angeles. He never graduated, but he began working the graveyard shifts as a security guard at CBS Studios in Radford, Calif.

After 10 years of grinding and working on his writing, he finally got his big break on Syfy’s Defiance.

He went on to write for Chicago P.D., Shooter, High Town and other shows until working on On Call with co-creator Elliot Wolf.

When the show’s executive producer Dick Wolf suggested casting Loughlin for the role of Lieutenant Bishop, Walsh knew it was a no-brainer.

“Listen, she did her time for whatever crime. I don’t care about any of that. She did what she did, and she paid the price for it,” he explains. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s nobody else’s business, and she absolutely deserves a second chance, just like the one I got.”

In May 2020, Loughlin and her husband Massimo Giannuilli pled guilty to conspiracy charges related to the college admissions scandal. Loughlin served two months in prison while her husband served five months. She officially returned to acting in 2021 for a role inWhen Calls the Heart.

Walsh “wishes more people” would get second chances. “So yeah, I’m a huge believer. And not just Lori,” he continues. “I mean, you look at Troian coming off of Pretty Little Liars, I’m not sure people were looking at her in this type of a role.”

“When we watched her tape, there was something about it that it felt like she had the same energy that we had,” he says of Bellisario’s audition. “Elliot and I knew that this was our one shot, and if we screwed this shot up, I’m not sure we’d get another one.”

While working on the show, Walsh says the one thing that surprised him most was “just how human” the actors were.

“Every single one of them. We made a point to surround ourselves with humble people,” he explains of the cast, which also includes Eriq LaSalle. “I’ve been doing this for quite some time now… You work with a lot of people who haven’t figured themselves out yet in this business, and they get success and they don’t know who they are yet, or they haven’t figured themselves out.”

“It seems like everybody had a really firm handle on who they are and how to handle this. Everybody had humility,” Walsh continues. “That probably surprised me the most, I think, is that we had not a single piece of drama outside of what was scripted on the show.”

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On Call is available to stream on Prime Video.