Nearly two months after 9-1-1's game-changing Season 8 came to a close, work on Season 9 is about to kick into high gear. Earlier this week, Jennifer Love Hewitt shared that the series was a couple of weeks out from returning to production and moving into a new era following the tragic exit of longtime co-lead Peter Krause. Now, Oliver Stark has chimed in with a video on Instagram offering exactly when he and the rest of the 118 will "get back to it." According to the star, filming begins in "eleven days," meaning July 22 will mark an end to "waking up late" and a return to dramatic first-responder action on ABC.
One thing Stark didn't provide, however, was any tease as to what's to come in Season 9 when the series returns to television this fall. Season 8 left the station fractured following the death of its stalwart captain Bobby Nash (Krause). Although the finale wrapped things up on a bittersweet note with some positives like Chimney (Kenneth Choi) and Maddie (Hewitt) welcoming their child, whom they named for Bobby, and Hen (Aisha Hinds) and Karen (Tracie Thoms), officially adopting Mara (Askyler Bell), it still left a void that someone will have to step up and fill going forward. A few options have been raised, including Hen, whom Angela Bassett's Athena Grant personally propositioned about the role, but she ultimately turned it down. That vacancy figures to be addressed in many ways throughout the upcoming run, beyond just who gets the fancy new title.
Stark, for his part, previously shared his belief that Chimney would be the perfect fit for the position and one that Bobby would approve of because he's made from the same stuff as the former captain. Even if Buck doesn't get the captain's role, though, he knows that there's a general leadership and mentorship vacuum that needs to be filled by the senior first responders at the station. One of the aspects Stark said he wants to see his character embrace most in the upcoming season is the mentorship side of things, passing on the lessons that the 118's late leader taught him over the years:
"Bobby was so instrumental to who Buck was on the show, and I really wanna see him carry that proudly and feel like he’s doing justice to all the things that he learned through Captain Nash. I want him to carry the banner and help the younger firefighters around him. We have a couple on the show, and so to almost step into that mentor role that Bobby was for Buck, I think it’s time for him to maybe start doing that for some others."
'9-1-1' Season 9 Will See Buck Going Through Major Personal Changes
Buck also has a lot of questions to answer in his personal life. The good news for him is that his best friend, and potential love interest, Eddie (Ryan Guzman), has moved back to Los Angeles, but it came at a cost. Stark's fan-favorite character is now in the market for a new home to call his own, and the actor told TV Insider that it's a bit of a "new place, new you" situation. For years, Buck has lived in places that haven't felt like they belonged to him, from the old loft to Eddie's place. Now, Stark says the next place he chooses will be something more reflective of the person he wants to be going forward, perhaps with "nice, natural light" and a "nice place to cook breakfast."
9-1-1 returns for Season 9 this fall on ABC. Stay tuned here at Collider for more on the hit series as the start of production nears.
