Angela Bassett couldn’t believe that she’d have to say goodbye to her 9-1-1 TV husband, Peter Krause.
This post contains spoilers for the latest episode of 9-1-1.
Not only was Bassett, 66, in disbelief that Krause’s Bobby Nash would get killed off, but she thought it’d be more likely that her character, Athena Grant, wouldn’t make it out alive.
“Tim [Minear, the showrunner] did pull Peter first and let him know. Then he pulled me and he gave me a call and was like, ‘OK, Angela, this is a big change in the season. We gotta do something really dramatic — and someone’s going to die,’” Bassett recalled to The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published after the Thursday, April 17, episode aired. “And then there’s a pause, of course. And I said, ‘Is it … Athena? Is it me?!’ He was like, ‘No.’”
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whether Hen (Aisha Hinds), Chimney (Kenneth Choi) or “three or four” other cast members would die onscreen.
“I think finally, after about three or four names, I was like, ‘What?!’ — because it was inconceivable to me that it was Bobby,” Bassett quipped. “It was incredulous to me that it was Bobby, so it was just very surprising. Sometimes, you’re just struck dumb — and that’s one of those moments because their bond has been so wonderful and so strong these past four or five years. I didn’t see that coming. None of us saw that coming.”
Krause starred as the beloved fire captain of the 118 on all eight seasons of 9-1-1. In Thursday’s episode — a two-part thriller about a contagion — Bobby died after being exposed to a deadly and accelerated virus when his crew was trapped in a subterranean biomedical facility.
Minear stressed to Variety on Thursday that the decision to kill off Bobby was “a very difficult creative” one, since he still loves Krause, 59, as a person. He also confirmed that Krause will reprise his role later during season 8. (ABC has also already renewed 9-1-1 for a ninth season.)
Bassett, meanwhile, further noted to THR that Krause also ended up consoling her and their castmates over the shocking TV death.
“I think [I got the call] maybe about a week before I actually saw Peter on set. He was doing a scene and I was doing a different scene, but we were on the same location, same set,” the Oscar nominee recalled. “And I just remember coming to set and asking everyone, ‘Where’s Bobby? Where’s Bobby?’ ‘He’s upstairs. ‘OK. I’ll get to this later, but let me find my man.’ And we just looked at each other.”
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She added, “You know when your eyes just lock and you don’t know what to say? And you just bear hug each other and then you just shake your head. And bless his heart — he had to comfort all of us.He truly had to comfort all of us while he’s going through his own processing in the moment.”
Krause noted in a statement released via social media after Thursday’s bombshell episode that he will miss sharing the screen with Bassett.
“I will miss my partner, Angela Bassett. Her strength and her sweetness, and us holding hands,” he wrote in part. “We parted ways too soon. Much love.”
9-1-1 returns to ABC in two weeks for an episode dedicated to Bobby’s funeral service.
