9-1-1 star Oliver Stark thinks things will be looking up for Evan “Buck” Buckley when viewers catch up with the 118 for season 9.
“He’s in a more progressed place than I think we would have found him at the end of season 8,” Stark, 34, exclusively told Us Weekly ahead of the Thursday, October 9, premiere. “Some time has passed. He’s living in a new house, so he’s putting down some roots, but he’s still adjusting, and he’s still figuring out what his place is within the new 118, and what that looks like around him and what he can do within it. So he’s not completely on steady ground yet, but he’s certainly, as I say, in a somewhat more progressed place than we would have last seen him.”
Part of that progression will include moving into a new apartment after temporarily taking up residence in BFF Eddie’s (Ryan Guzman) home while he was in Texas with his son, Christopher (Gavin McHugh). While Buck avoided settling into a new space last season, Stark told Us that his character will be much more willing to make a home for himself today that he’s embraced a new chapter.
“We don’t see him moving in for a couple of episodes, but it ends up being a much more character-filled house,” Stark teased of his new digs. “He has art on the walls. He has things on the tables. It’s just a lived-in space compared to his very pristine, minimalist apartment that we used to find him in.”
While Buck starts to thrive in his home life, rapid changes at the 118 won’t be as easy for him to accept. Stark explained that Chimney (Kenneth Choi) will be stepping up as interim captain, making way for additional pairings to blossom.
“We saw at the end of last season that [Chimney] was the guy who was ready [to be captain], so he’s the interim captain. And then we find Eddie and Hen partnered up as paramedics, and then Buck, unfortunately, [is] stuck with Ravi,” Stark joked before quickly adding: “No, very lucky to be stuck with Ravi.”
The shake ups won’t be anything viewers haven’t “seen before,” according to Stark, but they will stick in a way they haven’t previously. “It’s an adjustment period because of that,” he added.
Adjusting will have to happen quickly — if the season 9 trailer is any indication, it won’t be long before a geomagnetic storm hits Los Angeles that sends the 118 into the streets to slash the day. They’ll also seemingly be down a few key players, with Hen (Aisha Hinds) and Athena (Angela Bassett) jetting off to space for an “every day hero” mission into the cosmos.
9-1-1 has been known for its outrageous opening season emergencies — “beenado,” anyone? — but first images revealing a trip to space and a literal meteor shower had even the most loyal of fans doubting what the show is planning to pull off.
“I think there was an assumption that [Hen and Athena] had been sent into space to help someone,” Stark said of the mixed initial reactions. Public opinion quickly turned, however, when the season 9 trailer, released exclusively by Us earlier this month, showed Hen being asked to go to space for an “every day hero” mission after she saved an evil CEO (Mark Consuelos) from being killed by a whale — and proving to fans that 9-1-1 always knows how to stick the landing.
“Obviously that [story line is] somewhat directly mirroring something that we have seen in recent times with the space mission,” Stark noted, seemingly pointing to the Blue Origin all-female flight that took the likes of Katy Perry, Gayle King and more into space earlier this year. “So I think it just gave more context. I think it’s a really big picture.”
As for Stark, he admitted he’s “never too surprised” at any of the scenarios the 118 finds themselves in — but that unwavering faith took a few seasons to fully form.
“I think the first few seasons, it was always like, ‘What? How are we gonna do that?’ Whereas today I have such faith in the crew around us that I know that we can pull things off,” he said. “So I just think, ‘Oh, wow, yeah, great. That’s new, that’s interesting, that’s big. I’m excited. Let’s do it.’ Because I know that by the time I step onto the set, so many things are going to be in place around us that there’s barely any acting needed to be done.”
Stark emphasized that the 9-1-1 crew works hard to make every scenario feel as real as possible for the actors. “You really are stepping into these bizarre situations that have been created for you,” he said. “It’s not like you’re staring at a green screen. It’s very much real and practical.”
The 118 may be pros, but Stark and his fellow castmates will be joined by a whole new fire station this year when 9-1-1: Nashville joins the ranks of the franchise. Stark said he’s met “everyone” from the new series — which stars Chris O’Donnell, LeAnn Rhimes, Jessica Capshaw and more — and is “excited” to see what they have in store. He also offered some sage advice: it won’t be easy, but it will be great.
“I spoke to their firefighters, and I just said to them, ‘Be prepared to get dirty and be tired, but it’s gonna be fun,’” he told Us. “‘Throw yourself into the emergencies, it’s physically demanding, yes, but you’re gonna come out afterwards and you’ll be like, I had a great time.’”
9-1-1 season 9 premieres on ABC Thursday, October 9, at 8 p.m. ET.
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