“I Think It’s Good to Not Be Too Complacent”: ’9-1-1’s Oliver Stark Reveals His Approach Following Bobby’s Death

For eight seasons, 9-1-1 fans tuned in from one week to the next to watch their favorite characters — a team of first responders — take on the gnarliest and most devastating disasters that Los Angeles could throw their way. The stakes always felt high, but there was still a sense that the entire team would be heading home at the end of the shift to hang up their gear and return to their loved ones. That foundation was rocked to its core a few weeks ago when the series did the unthinkable and killed off Peter Krause’s Captain Bobby Nash. Bobby wasn’t just the 118’s leader, but he was the glue that held the family together and, as we’ve seen over the last few episodes, without him there, the team is floating away from one another.

Sitting down to speak with Us Weekly ahead of tonight’s Season 8 finale, series star Oliver Stark, who appears on the series as Buck, shared his thoughts about the death of Bobby and how that will inform his character moving forward. For starters, Stark is using the sobering moment to take into account that even though he’s been with the series since the start, there’s always a chance he could be the next to go.

“I think it’s good to not be too complacent. We should always wonder if we can be doing more or working harder. So it doesn’t make me consciously nervous, but it is a new thing that the show has now opened. So make sure you turn up on time. Get your mark, know your lines. [Laughs] I’m not screwing this one up, you know?”

What Will Buck Do With Bobby's Last Words?

As they were saying their goodbyes to one another in the April 17 episode, “Lab Rats,” Bobby tasked Buck with holding his head high and uniting the 118 in his absence. Although he might not be running towards the moniker of Captain, Stark said that Buck would still be doing everything in his power to uphold his end of the bargain,

“I think he feels like this was his dying wish, as it were. He’s charged Buck with this task, and he was such an instrumental character to 118. And [having] such a strong foundation that removing him has resulted in everybody kind of falling away from each other. I think Buck is going to take it very seriously — that I’m the one that has to do some work to bring everybody back together.”

9-1-1 is now streaming on Hulu with the Season 8 finale set to arrive tonight on ABC at 8pm EST.

explaining,