9-1-1 Star Anirudh Pisharody Unpacks "Cathartic" Season 8 Finale Scene & Shares Hopes For "Ravi Begins"

I chatted with Anirudh Pisharody about 9-1-1 season 8's emotional finale, Bobby's impact on the 118, Ravi's friendship with Buck, and hopes for a "Ravi Begins" episode.

Bobby Taught Ravi That Tough Times Are Just Momentary

"You really can't let the bad things that happen in the nature of that job, you can't let that color the entirety of your experience."

ScreenRant: 9-1-1 has always been an action-packed, crazy-rescue, optimistic show, and this episode was really heavy. How was it for you and the cast filming that after Bobby's death?

Anirudh Pisharody: We finally get to come together as a team, which is great, especially the last scene of Kenny's monologue. It's cathartic, in a way, because Ryan [Guzman] hasn't been there with us for so long. It feels like years have gone by, but it's just a couple of months. He hasn't been there for so long, and so to be able to do a rescue with him where we're all there, even with Angela, all of that, it's kind of like Pete's spirit is in the room.

It's like Captain Bobby Nash is there. I will say something funny though. After we come back from the emergency and Gerard says, "I'm happy to report there are no casualties," all that stuff, we actually hadn't seen what the emergency was going to be because we had filmed it, and we weren't downtown yet.

So when we went downtown afterwards, we're seeing this, we're like, "Wow, okay, so this is crazy that there's no casualties." You know what I mean? Because it was one of those things where we didn't get the chance to really live what that emergency was going to be, and all of us were like, "Oh, man, we would've really played that differently." But it was funny.

You mentioned Kenneth's speech, which was so impactful just watching it through the screen. What was it like experiencing that in real time?

Anirudh Pisharody: We didn't have to act. Just looking at him, I was emotional, and I don't need to go to any place for this. I've talked about this before. He's such a good actor, and every time he goes the distance, it's so generous and it's so easy for everyone around him to get to that place or whatever objective it is that he's trying to put out there. I was kind of front and center while we were filming that, just watching him, and just take after take, there are tears welling up in my eyes.

That speech is definitely something that's needed, and it's something that everyone's constantly thinking about, and his character has been beating himself up for the past couple episodes about that whole interaction. Nobody knows what to say, and him having that kind of explode out of him is just—I'm going back to cathartic. I feel like catharsis is really the word for this latter half of the season. It was beautiful.

Ravi hasn't spent as much time with Bobby, but he is obviously still very important to him. What do you think he learned from Bobby and will carry with him moving forward?

Anirudh Pisharody: That tough times are just momentary. I think what he's learned from Bobby is that you really can't let the bad things that happen in the nature of that job, you can't let that color the entirety of your experience. Ravi keeps going back to that.

He gets weighed down by people dying around him and things that he couldn't do. And I think Bobby Nash is emblematic that you can go through the worst situation in your life, the most unthinkable, most unimaginable tragedy, and still come out and be this light in so many people's lives and just constantly exude joy. That's definitely something that Ravi has taken from him.

Even as a character, he did that for so many people.

Anirudh Pisharody: As a character and as a person. I'm sure you read Pete's last letter to everybody. It was so emotional and beautiful. I think that's what makes it so impactful. His character is really him, and so when you have the Nash turnout on the back of the firetruck and everything, it's almost like Pete is dying.

Even though he's not—he's perfectly healthy, he's happy, he's fine and everything. You feel like you're losing a limb. It's like you're losing a part of yourself and yeah, it's been rough. You're going to feel it, and we definitely felt it just in the past two episodes where he wasn't there. Something is off. There's something missing here, and it's obvious what it is. It'll never be that way again.

Pisharody Shares His Hopes For A "Ravi Begins" Episode

"I really wanted to do a whole POV episode where it's just him waking up, but it's all filmed from his perspective."

Fans are clamoring for Ravi to be a series regular in season 9. How do we make this happen?

Anirudh Pisharody: That's a good question. I should ask you that. I think it's just the nature of a show like this. There are so many characters, there are so many storylines. If it's a right fit, it's a right fit. I'll petition Tim. I'll send him a petition.org, a signature page to do it. I'm hoping it happens. I'm definitely hoping it happens. I love the show, I love the people, and it's a part of me in more ways than one.

Fans also want a "Ravi Begins" episode. Is there a storyline that you would like to see play out if that did happen?

Anirudh Pisharody: There are so many things. There's obviously the cancer aspect and that he was a very sickly child. There's the thing about him being a landlord. I really wanted to do a whole POV episode where it's just him waking up, but it's all filmed from his perspective, and he's just living in this massive mansion as he's strolling around, and he's got 15 rescue dogs and cats just roaming around.

Almost like this capitalist bohemian lifestyle, and then he puts on his uniform and he goes to work. There are so many angles. I think that's the beauty of it. Because it hasn't been so completely fleshed out, you can literally approach it from something totally brand new or whatever has already been written there.

How do you think Ravi feels about his placement at the 118 now? He didn't really think Buck saw him as a friend, so does he feel accepted and loved by them at this point?

Anirudh Pisharody: I definitely think he feels loved now. Especially after these past couple of episodes, it's more important than ever for them to stay together as a unit, as a family, to be there for each other. I think his probie days are definitely way past him.

That being said, though, in that flashback scene, where Pete says probie again, it was definitely very triggering. I was like, "We really don't need this. Listen, why do we have to do this? There's no reason for this. There's no reason for it!" [Laughs] You can escape it for a little bit, but it always comes back. It always comes back. Until there's a new probie, it's haunting me.

Ravi And Buck Might Need To Bond Over Some Frisbee-Golf

"That was the first run through. It was rough, and we've just got to do it again."

There's been a lot of speculation about Ravi's romantic life. Do you have any theories or anything you'd like to see?

Anirudh Pisharody: No comment on that. That'd just get me in trouble. Ravi's a romantic guy. I'm sure he's a ladies' man. I'd like to think he is. Yeah, no other comment on that. [Laughs] Whatever the writers want to do with that angle, I'm down.

Everybody loves the Buck and Ravi friendship. What was your favorite scene to film with Oliver [Stark] this season?

Anirudh Pisharody: I really liked the quarters scene where I kind of pawn him off on Tommy, where I'm like, "Oh my God." That was really cathartic. It was that situation where Ravi's wanted this thing so badly. He's like, "Oh my God, finally," and then he finally gets it, and he's like, "Turns out, I never wanted it to begin with."

I'm like, "He's kind of weird. He just wants to talk about Eddie the whole time. I'm just going to leave." It was really fun to film because that morning we spent like two hours just playing quarters, which neither of us had ever played before, but we're just hitting the table with these quarters into these shot glasses. It was fun. It was a cute moment.

Do you think that if he wasn't so caught up talking about Eddie, they could still have a fun time if they tried again in the future?

Anirudh Pisharody: Maybe if they frolfed. If we played a little bit of frisbee-golf. I think so. I definitely think so. It's one of those things where you spend so much time with someone that—I think for Ravi and Buck, the moment you step outside of that realm, they're both just kind of like, "Oh, this is weird. We've never seen each other like this before." So maybe it is just the training wheels need to come off. That was the first run through. It was rough, and we've just got to do it again.

Everybody wants to know about Ravi's music taste. Does he have a favorite song? A favorite artist? Do you have a Ravi playlist? What's the musical situation?

Anirudh Pisharody: I think Ravi loves EDM. He just loves EDC, Ultra, he's listening to Sammy Virji, he's listening to Klein music. He loves John Summit. He loves all these very Gen Z music tastes, I should say. Ravi also likes Benson Boone.