9-1-1 showrunner Tim Minear is explaining why a major character was killed off in the latest episode.
Warning: Spoilers below for season 8, episode 15, of 9-1-1.
The Thursday, April 17, episode of 9-1-1 saw the death of beloved character Captain Bobby Nash, played by Peter Krause. Krause has been part of the show’s ensemble cast since its inception in 2018. Bobby died after being infected with a deadly virus following a leak at a research lab.
In an interview with Deadline published Thursday, Minear explained that after eight seasons of the first-responder characters surviving various high-stakes scenarios, he felt it was time viewers saw the potential consequences of their perilous work.
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“I had been toying with the idea for a couple of seasons, actually, maybe even longer, feeling like at some point I’m going to have to do this,” Minear explained. “And then once I came up with this idea for the lab leak episode, that’s when it solidified for me that it was time to do it, it felt like a real opportunity to give somebody an epic Wrath of Khan-like death.”
“When it came down to deciding who should that be, I wanted it to be a character that affected all the characters’ stories in a very specific and yet different ways. There was only one man for the job, and it was Bobby,” Minear added.
Minear admitted that losing Bobby — and Krause — was a “wrenching decision,” because, “I adore Peter, and he’s so great on the show, really the backbone of the show in so many ways, which is why it was both a terrifying decision but also, creatively, I just knew that it would be so meaningful and have such repercussions and give me so much story for the show.”
“Once I had made that choice, suddenly the world of the show seems so much more real to me, just feeling the grief of the characters and feeling just how that nuclear bomb going off in the center of that universe affected everything,” Minear added. “Suddenly, everything just felt weirdly more alive to me.”
Krause’s costar Angela Bassett, who plays Bobby’s wife, Athena Grant-Nash, also shared her reaction to the news, noting she had no idea a twist of this magnitude was coming.
“Absolutely not. Not an inkling, not a word, not birdies, nothing,” she said.
In March, Bassett told People that she can’t imagine 9-1-1 without Bobby and Athena together, a sentiment she echoed to Deadline in the wake of Bobby’s death.
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“I don’t know how this is going to play out: Athena, her relationship with her job, herself, her kids, the 118. This is the second husband that she’s lost, and the end of her and Peter’s tremendous bond. Where is she going?” Bassett said.
9-1-1 season 8 returns Thursday, May 1, on ABC. The show has been renewed for a ninth season.
