9-1-1

Interview: Peter Krause and Oliver Stark talk all things ‘9-1-1’ Season 8

‘9-1-1′ is one of the biggest shows in the world and the latest season, Season 8, is currently airing on Disney+ in the UK.

Season 8 has been packed with plenty of action already including a beenado, a potential plane disaster and the discovery of a real. dead body during the Halloween celebrations. The show’s mix of craziness and adrenaline-fuelled entertainment feels as fresh as it ever has.

As we approach the mid-season finale, I caught up with stars Peter Krause, who plays Bobby Nash, and Oliver Stark, who plays Evan ‘Buck’ Buckley, to talk about the show, and find out what’s to come on the latest season…

When you signed on for ‘9-1-1′ did you have any idea that the show would still be going strong 8 seasons later?

Peter Krause (PK): I did. I did, for sure.

Oliver Stark (OS): Did you really?

PK: I did. Brad Buecker I talked about it while we were filming that scene where the woman is up on that shipping crane and she’s gonna jump off and, I tell her I can help her and then she jumps.

OS: It’s a great metaphor for the rest of the show (laughs).

PK: I just felt like we were on to something that was different than any procedural that had been on the air. I can’t really even call this a procedural, but it is that sense of a comic book about first responders (that has) come to life that I thought was it was new. It kind of created its own little crazy genre.

There’s been so much craziness over the past 8 seasons. Oliver, what have been your favourite moments?

OS: I think there have been different ones for different reasons. Crazy in terms of scale, I would probably still lean on the tsunami episodes we did back in season 3. Crazy in terms of outlandish, maybe the beenado of this year. I think that ‘9-1-1′ thrives in its ability to be somewhat ridiculous sometimes. Every season there’s something that makes you go, ‘There’s no way’ and somehow it pulls it off. It’s been a lot of fun.

Peter, this season has seen Bobby away from the rest of the 118 as he’s been working as a technical adviser on a movie set. What was it like to be separated from the rest of the cast for the early part of the season?

PK: I certainly missed my fire team. ‘Hot Shots’, the show within the show, provided us with a tremendous amount of comic relief and Callum Blue , a fellow Brit… where is he from Oliver?

OS: He’s from Essex.

PK: He’s been a lot of fun to have around, and he shows up throughout the season. I thought it added a really fun element to the show. I have to say that Oliver, you really are quite the dramaturg when it comes to ‘9-1-1′ history. You know when all the episodes aired and what season? We could quiz you right now. What season was the earthquake?

OS: Season 2.

PK: When was the guy who had his head inside the microwave and jumped in the pool? Was that also season 2?

OS: I think it was. Listen, you’ve done a thousand episodes of television. And I’ve only done a hundred. So, it’s a smaller thing to remember.

PK: Your file cabinet isn’t as full yet.

OS: Exactly.

PK: Exactly. Sorry Pip! (laughs)

When we get to Season 18, we’ll revisit this conversation and see how much you can remember then, Oliver…

OS: Pete won’t be able to stand by that point. He will have had enough by that point. I’ ll say, wasn’t there be an old captain that we used to have?

PK: Season 18 Pip?!? (laughs)

One of the big storylines for Buck during Season 7 and Season 8 has been the exploration of his sexuality. We’ve seen him start a relationship with Tommy, and I know there’s misery ahead for them. Fans have for the most part loved the storyline, although there has been a small group that hasn’t. What has that been like for you?

OS: Yeah, it’s funny. I thought those two different camps that you talk about there might be somewhat equal in terms of how many people felt whichever way about the story, but it’s been overwhelmingly positive, honestly. The people that have ended up coming out and saying that they didn’t like it, certainly what’s reached me anyway, has been far smaller than the people that have loved it for Buck and loved the storyline. It’s been really quite overwhelming and some of the messages I’ve received over the past year and a half since the episode first aired, they still continue to blow me away. At the end of the day, what we do here in making any type of entertainment, it’s at its best when people feel seen and people feel like their own lives are being reflected and it seems to have done that for a lot of people. It’s been a really lovely experience overall for me.

I will say it’s been my favourite of Buck’s relationships. I’m gutted that Buck and Tommy have broken up and I’m hoping that they get back together later in the season…

OS: The Tommy relationship, as it’ s stated in the episode, he will always have been Buck’ s first. There’s always going to be special meaning to that and attached to that. I don’t know what’s to come, but it’s been a huge step for Buck in working out who he is. That will never be taken away from the Buck and Tommy relationship.

Bobby and Athena have been through so much over the course of the show, and Athena has gone through a lot at the start of Season 8. What can you tease in terms of their relationship for the rest of the season?

PK: We put to rest that they would rebuild the exact home they were living in, designed by her ex husband. That didn’t seem like a good idea. We’re going to take a time leap in the storytelling and I’m not sure if Tim (Minear) is going to have us in a new home, if we’re going to be building something or if we’re going to still be searching. I’m not really sure. But, when we last see Bobby and Athena at the end of this fall segment, they certainly are still in the corporate housing and sort of displaced. On the show, we deal with all these emergencies and the private life does get set aside, and we don’t really know what’s going on there. I think it was just sort of paused and we’ll land somewhere. I think in this next spring season here, we’ll see them have a home somewhere, I think.

OS: Buck has a spare couch!

I would like to see them settled somewhere, but obviously that’s not the nature of the show. They’re only going to be settled for all of a few minutes before one of you is, or all of you are, thrown into chaos…

PK: Yeah, it’s a fun show in that way that we get to reset. You go through things like Buck had an entire fire engine fall on his leg and he seems to be walking fine now.

OS: Fine- ish. As fine as I was before.

Oliver, what can you tease about what’s coming up for Buck in the next part of Season 8?

OS: I don’t really know. We’re only on episode 10 or 11, so we’re not much further ahead. I would assume him finding his feet post- breakup. In the immediate aftermath of the breakup, seeing him trying to channel his heartache into some positive outlets and some new hobbies. I think by the time we eventually end up coming back on air in the spring, he’ll probably be at the next stage of grief or recovery, whatever you want to call that, and settling back into his life and leaning on his 118 family as we’ve seen him do so many times before.

Who would you both say is your favourite scene partner to work with?

PK: Well, I have to say Oliver. I enjoy working with everybody, but I do think that there’s a special bond that Bobby and Buck have. It’s a sort of father son (dynamic) and I really do enjoy the scenes that we get to have . There have been some seasons where Oliver and I remark to each other that we haven’t had a scene together in a while.

OS: For me, it’s Aisha (Hinds who plays Hen)

Controversial…

OS: (laughs)

PK: I love working with everybody.

OS: As (Peter) says, that is actually part of the magic of the show. We all do love each other.

PK: It’s a terrific ensemble and everybody really does like working with each other.

 

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