'Monarch' Storyline Similarities to the Judds Is One of the 'Saddest, Eeriest Coincidences' EP Says

Country music fans who tuned into FOX's new country music drama Monarch Tuesday night may have noticed some parallels to recent events in the genre. The soap's iconic character Dottie Roman, a legendary country music matriarch who heads country music's first family, is played by Susan Sarandon. She is diagnosed with cancer, and with only months to live, Dottie is determined to go out on her own terms. She plans her all-star funeral and then chooses to end her life by taking a lethal dose of pills in her bedroom, with one of her daughters by her side.

Beloved Country Music Hall of Fame icon Naomi Judd, whom music fans know as one-half of mother-daughter duo The Judds — died by suicide in her bedroom last spring. She also pre-planned her funeral — and the Judds' hit "Love Can Build a Bridge" was performed at Judd's funeral as well as on the fictitious farewell on Monarch.

The Judds, comprised of Naomi and daughter Wynonna, were planning a final tour and a documentary with music industry veteran Jason Owen when Naomi Judd died. Owen is also an executive producer on Monarch and says that the similarities are purely coincidence and that Sarandon's Monarch scenes were filmed months before Judd's death.

"What feels like art imitating life is really just one of the strangest, saddest, eeriest coincidences I've seen," Owen tells PEOPLE.

After reading the Monarch script in 2019, FOX gave an initial script commitment to the drama, and the story was finalized two years before Judd's death. In May 2021, the network officially ordered the series. The cast started production by September and finished shooting the first few episodes that fall. Monarch was supposed to premiere in January of 2022 after the NFL championship game, but the debut was delayed due to COVID-19. However, Judd hadn't seen the episodes, nor was she or her family aware of the plotline before she died in April of 2022.

When Owen was dreaming up the character's funeral, it was crucial to him and creator Melissa London Hilfers that the fanfare harkened back to other high-profile sendoffs like those for Johnny Cash, Tammy Wynette and George Jones. He explains Dottie is the fanciful Queen of Country Music, so she is deserving of a legendary country funeral.

"They're icons, and they deserve these big celebrations of life," he says. "That's where we got the idea for the over-the-top funeral."

Owen chose most of the music for the show, including "Love Can Build a Bridge" in the funeral scene. A Judds fan since childhood, Owen had been working on The Judds tour and thought it was a way to remind people of the duo's music. He also needed a song that would allow Dottie and her sister, Nellie, to sing it together.

"The Judds are literally my favorite of all time," he says. "I was producing their whole tour, and they had their last performance, which was 'Love Can Build a Bridge' on CMT. Then the tragic events start to unfold. It's just another unbelievable coincidence. But it's also something I care deeply about — what Wynonna and the family thought."

Owen also produced Judd's funeral for CMT. When he was in the middle of planning her final arrangements through his grief and shock, all he could think about was making sure every detail was perfect so the family would feel at peace. The striking similarities between art and reality hit him after the funeral when he was back to work watching cuts of Monarch episodes.

"Out of friendship, love and respect for the Judd Family, I called Wynonna and Greg Hill, [manager for the Naomi Judd Estate], to make sure they were aware of Monarch and its storyline well before it aired."

The Judds were Owen's first concert as a child, and he had started to feel like he was part of their family through working so closely with them in recent years. It was his idea to bring them back and produce a final tour, which he thought would be Naomi's last time on stage. He wanted to make sure they had the legacy they deserved.

"I was in their life for these big moments of return when we put the arena tour on sale, and it basically sold out. Then they have this amazing comeback at the CMT Awards, where all the artists are fawning over them. It was exactly how I wanted people to be reminded of how amazing these two women are. I've been there for all the highs. I'm also now part of their biggest low."

Writers didn't pattern the Romans after the Judds, and Owen says it's important viewers understand that the television family isn't inspired by anyone in particular. The Romans are taken from many influential country music families.

"Right now, we are all living in a really divided country," Owen says. "When times are tough, you look for something to sort of give you a break from all the noise. That's one of the things that I loved about the classic old soaps from Dynasty to Dallas. I hope people get the same sort of enjoyment and escape from Monarch. It's a very fun, over-the-top Texas-sized drama that showcases country music and its big stars in a way that is very glamorous with big hair, amazing clothes, incredible scandals and great music. It's all I dreamed it would be."

Ratings indicate that's precisely what is happening. The series' initial performance places Monarch as the No. 1 scripted debut of 2022, outperforming the next highest-rated drama across broadcast and cable television, House of the Dragon, by 50 percent.

Monarch airs at 9 p.m. ET Tuesdays on FOX.