“I Fought Him On It”: ‘9-1-1’ Star Reveals He Pushed Back Against Last Week’s Shocking Death

It’s been four days since 9-1-1 did the unthinkable, unapologetically killing off Peter Krause’s Bobby Nash, and fans are still riding out the waves of devastation. And — not to make things worse — but, if the cast’s reactions are any indication, it seems like those heavy emotions might linger for quite a bit longer. Recently chatting with Entertainment Weekly, Kenneth Choi, who stars as Chimney in the hit procedural, revealed that he was re-traumatized after watching Bobby’s death play out on screen last week.

Sharing how his watch party with a friend panned out, Choi said,

“I was sobbing. I mean, I f---ing filmed it and I was still sobbing uncontrollably with my friend for like three or four minutes to the point where I started to laugh at myself, because it was uncontrollable sobbing. I was laughing at myself saying, ‘I don’t know what is happening! I know this isn’t real! Why am I acting like this?’ But it was devastating to me.”

With Bobby’s funeral coming up in this week’s episode, the rollercoaster ride will begin all over again, with audiences watching as the character’s co-workers, including his wife, Athena Grant (Angela Bassett), go through the unthinkable. After eight seasons, the death of a main character on a show like the ABC fan-favorite drama is to be expected, yet fans — and Krause’s co-workers — never saw Bobby’s heroic sacrifice coming. In fact, Choi said that when he was first given the top-secret information by showrunner Tim Minear, he pushed back with everything in him. "I just kind of went into those stages of grief. Denial, mostly,” Choi said of being faced with the inconceivable news, adding,

“And he explained creatively why he thought it was the right choice, and I fought him on it. And I continued to fight him on it. I fought him on it up until we kind of did the funeral stuff, because I was thinking, ‘Maybe they’ll pull it back. Maybe they’ll change their minds. Maybe they’ll reverse course.’”

Kenneth Choi Initially Thought Bobby’s Death Was a Joke

 

Breaking the news of Bobby’s impending death must have been an incredibly difficult undertaking for Minear, because, as Choi puts it, “You’re kind of killing off our father figure.” But, the unthinkable had to be done to pile up the stakes of the weekly series. Revealing his initial reaction to Minear’s plan, Choi said,

“As soon as he said the words, I just waited and waited, because Tim has a very wry sense of humor, and I was just waiting for him to say ‘I’m just f---ing with you, just kidding,’ and those words never came. There was this long period of silence and I said, ‘Are you serious?’ And he said, ‘I’m serious, yeah.’”

Get caught up on 9-1-1 now streaming on Hulu before the heartbreak continues this Thursday with an all-new episode.