Oliver Stark Talks Buck’s Storyline, Love Life, & Pain Over Christopher’s Absence In 9-1-1 Season 8

9-1-1 season 8, episode 1, titled “Buzzkill”, aired on September 26 and brought the largest swarm of bees Los Angeles has ever seen along with it. The premiere focuses on how the 118 is faring after Gerrard, who is notoriously known for his cruelty, replaces Bobby as captain of the firehouse. All the members of the team are dealing with their own crises, with Hen’s foster license in limbo and Eddie’s son moving to Texas in the 9-1-1 season 7 finale. It ends up being Buck who clashes most with the captain, refusing to give in to his ridiculous demands.

The episode’s final moments see Gerrard verbally attacking Buck right before the firefighter tackles him to the ground and out of the path of a flying power-saw blade. To the team, it appears as if Buck was trying to save Gerrard’s life, but Oliver Stark teases that his character may not even know his own intentions. Stark shares that the accident will continue to haunt Buck throughout the season, unsure of whether he meant to help or harm the current captain.

Screen Rant interviewed Stark about Buck’s upcoming storyline, his romance with Tommy, and how he will be affected by Christopher’s decision to take time away from Eddie in 9-1-1 season 8.

Stark Has Always Wanted 9-1-1 To Be “Larger Than Life”

The bee-nado has called a lot of attention to the series. Have you seen the reactions, and were you expecting that plot to blow up this much?

Oliver Stark: I’ve seen mixed responses to it. I’ve seen some people really excited by the silliness of the whole thing, and then I’ve seen other people who are somewhat dubious or skeptical of it, and I say, “Hey, give it a watch. I promise you it’s a lot of fun.” [But] No, I don’t think so. I found over the years that I’m often wrong if I make too many predictions on how things will be received, so I just steer away from doing it in general.

But personally, I think it’s great. I’m a huge fan of it, and I always want the show to be larger than life, so the fact that we are very much leaning into that aspect, I think it’s when 9-1-1 thrives, and I think it’s where we as a cast get to thrive. I was super excited for it, and I’m really happy with how it’s turned out.

We see in the premiere that Buck, in particular, has been butting heads with Gerrard since he took Bobby’s job. Can you take us through Buck’s thoughts in that final scene when he, ultimately, ends up saving Gerrard’s life?

Oliver Stark: I don’t quite know how to answer that, because I don’t think Buck quite knows if he was trying to save his life, if he knew what he was doing, or if he was reacting impulsively to the abuse that he’s been getting in that scene. As we move forward, in fact, that is going to be a little bit of a story point for Buck of, “Did I mean to save his life or was I trying to hurt him?”

And yes, it’s had a happy outcome, but was that on purpose? So yeah, it’s hard to speak to what Buck’s thought process is because I don’t think he’s quite sure of it. I like the aspect of Buck lost his temper. That’s my little secret theory—that he wasn’t trying to save his life, but he got lucky.

Buck is never one to give up, and given how much Bobby means to him and the 118, what can you tease about his attempts to get Bobby back this season?

Oliver Stark: We see, obviously, in that scene on the roof that he’s always filled with ideas of how to get things back to his status quo. His normal setting of, “This is my 118.” But I do think after the Gerrard accident at the end of the first episode, but then also as we move into the plane emergency, there are bigger things to take care of than the immediate aftermath.

And Gerrard, obviously, we saw quite a bit of blood, so he’s not necessarily going to be right back on his feet. As we move into these next two episodes, Buck is definitely going to try and enlist Bobby back into their lives. Bobby has been such an important part of who Buck is as a firefighter that he’s going to need him for what’s to come over these next two episodes.

Buck And Tommy Are Still Learning New Things About Each Other In 9-1-1 Season 8

There’s a little bit of a jump between seasons 7 and 8, and Buck and Tommy have been together during that time. Where would you say they are in terms of their relationship?

Oliver Stark: I think they’re still at the honeymoon phase. Things are still very much being seen with the rose-tinted glasses of a new fresh relationship. They’ve definitely started this season off in a good place. I don’t know exactly what we’re saying the time jump is, I don’t think it’s too much. So they’re still learning things about each other, which in itself is going to throw in some interesting story as we move forward, as they do learn more about each other. It’s going to be fun to see what those truths are as they uncover a little bit more about who each other is.

Eddie has always been the person that Buck is most vulnerable with and vice versa. Would that type of closeness ever create difficulties in Buck and Tommy’s relationship?

Oliver Stark: No, I don’t think so. I think we’ve even seen that first episode that Eddie and Christopher are obviously hugely important in Buck’s life, and Tommy is able to come along for that ride. He’s helping set up the surprise party. There’s no jealousy from Tommy towards Buck and Eddie’s closeness. That’s not going to throw any difficulties into that situation.

When Christopher was worried about his dad, Buck was always the first person he turned to, but that’s not really the case this time. Outside of his sadness for Eddie, how does Buck feel about Christopher also keeping his distance from him?

Oliver Stark: Yeah. Christopher’s decision—I’ve never really framed it in my head that it was about not wanting to go to Buck as much as it was needing an even bigger change. He didn’t want to travel, whatever it may be, 20 minutes to Buck’s house. He needed to move states to deal with this. But I think we see in the first episode that it’s painful for Buck for Christopher to not be there, as well. He’s a huge part of Buck’s life. It’s not Buck’s biological child, but it certainly hits him really hard as well. It’s something that he is missing from his life in these immediate episodes, absolutely.

9-1-1 Season 8 Will See A “More Assured” Buck

Given all the issues with Gerrard, do you think that pushes Buck further away from wanting to be captain, or does it drive him?

Oliver Stark: I would think the latter. It’s a clearer picture of what good and bad leadership is. Bobby being representation of, obviously, great leadership, and Gerrard being a lesson of what not to do. I think Buck is always going to have in the back of his mind that he wants to continue to progress professionally.

And I think if anything, this is just going to be more experience and more of a guide to the kind of leader that he will hope to one day be. I think we can learn a lot from seeing people do the wrong thing and then go, “Oh, that’s not the kind of person [I want to be],” or “That’s not the kind of leader I want to be.” I think it will only help him as we move forward, if that is a storyline.

Now that we’re eight seasons in and Buck has evolved and discovered more about himself, have your own personal hopes for the character changed?

Oliver Stark: Not necessarily changed. I’ve always wanted him to find his footing and be assured in who he is. I think, obviously, the changes that he uncovered for himself in season 7 were a huge part of that. And so I think it’s exciting as we continue this season to see this new fully confident and authentic version of himself.

That’s what I’ve always wanted for Buck, and I think that once he has found that in one aspect of his life, it can only spread to others. So we’ll see him being more confident and more assured in everything that he does. And whether that be at work, or in his family relationships, or in his friend relationships, in just all aspects of his life, I think he will continue to grow into himself and be a more confident individual.

Is there one episode, in particular, that you’re looking forward to fans seeing this season?

Oliver Stark: Episode 5—we’re shooting it at the moment. We’re shooting out of order, so this will air as Episode 5. I’m having a great time. It’s a really fun, silly episode for Buck, but it also has some really moving elements, and I think it’s what 9-1-1 does best. It blends all of those different genres together. That’s one that I’m really looking forward to, and I know the whole cast is. We’ve been laughing a lot this episode and really embracing the close relationships that we formed with each other. I think it’s a really great episode. I hope it will be a really great episode.