‘9-1-1’ Creator Says Buck’s Buddie Denial Is Not the End, but ‘It Doesn’t Mean I’m Making Promises’

Note: This story contains spoilers from “9-1-1” Season 8, Episode 11.

“9-1-1” barely gave its firefighters a chance to breathe following Season 8’s two-part serial killer saga before dropping more chaos on their laps: Including the unexpected introduction of Bobby’s mother and Buck dropping a difficult truth for Buddie fans.

Episode 11, titled “Holy Mother of God,” followed the 118 as they responded to an emergency call at a megachurch, where Bobby (Peter Krause) ran into his estranged mother (played by Lesley Ann Warren), who turned out to be a traveling minister with a health crisis. Viewers learn that Bobby distanced himself from his mother and brother Charlie (Sean O’Bryan) after the death of his dad, after seeing his family move forward from the loss and making a name for themselves in the megachurch circuit.

While Bobby dealt with his family reunion, Buck (Oliver Stark) struggled with his best friend Eddie (Ryan Guzman) leaving Los Angeles in an effort to reconnect with his son in El Paso. After agreeing to take over Eddie’s lease, Buck found himself refusing to unpack his things. Then a surprise return by Tommy (Lou Ferrigno Jr.) led to an unexpected hookup — which then led to Tommy confronting Buck about his feelings for Eddie.

Buck rebuffed his ex-boyfriend’s concerns about his feelings for his best friend, assuring him he’s never thought of Eddie in a romantic fashion. He reiterated the sentiment in a conversation with his sister Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt), after she asked him if he’s in love with his best friend.

This marks a significant acknowledgement from “9-1-1” about the growing love from fans who ship Buck and Eddie getting together — dubbing them with the couple name “Buddie.” But series creator Tim Minear said Episode 11 is not meant to shut down the shippers once and for all — no matter how insistent they are on making Buddie happen.

“The story in the show is more fluid than us just shutting things down,” he said. “Buck is attempting to shut it down in that scene, I will say that.”

The episode also marked the directorial debut for cast member Aisha Hinds.

“She came in and had a really big episode to direct for a first timer. She did a fantastic job,” Minear said.

Look below for TheWrap’s chat with Minear about Season 8, Episode 11.

TheWrap: Tommy returns and almost seems ready to get back together with Buck, until he realizes Buck is only filling the void left by Eddie. Why have him bring the Buddie topic to the surface?

He makes the most sense. He sees how close Buck and Eddie are, and I think any guy in that situation would be like, “I think we need to talk about your best friend and how you just decided to move into his house.” Tommy is the character who would ask that question and who would have a vested interest in that answer.

We know Jennifer Love Hewitt is a big Buddie proponent. So I thought that it was very meta to have Maddie be the one to ask “Are you in love with Eddie?”

Maddie was also the first person Buck shared his awakening with last season. She’s his sister so of course!

Fan conversations are always going to be a thing, and we know they are clamoring for Buddie to happen. We got a lot of feedback from our interview with Ryan Guzman last week where he emphasized Buck and Eddie having a “brothers” type of relationship, and they just will not let up. What do we do about these Buddie shippers?

We should be kind to them, and we should be patient and not say bad things. I love my Buddie shippers. I have always written Buck and Eddie the same way from the start. There’s nothing new happening here.

When Eddie was first introduced, he was in slow motion with his shirt off, with “What a Man” playing on the soundtrack. That’s how I’ve written them from the beginning. Buck bonds with him in basically one shift.

Buck is very insistent that he does not have romantic feelings for Eddie, and even tries to salvage things with Tommy when their conversation starts to go south. But this episode is only going to intensify the fan response, right?

I mean, look, here’s the thing I’ll say. Do I end up touching a third rail? Maybe. But at the end of the day, I have to be honest with where the characters are at this moment in time, and write the things that I think they would be saying and what would be happening. It does not mean I’m making promises or anything like that. The story is alive and it continues.

What can you tease about where these two are heading with Eddie in El Paso for the next bit?

You are going to see Eddie in El Paso. Eddie’s story is really about trying to reconnect with his kid and do the right thing. And I think he may be leaning too far in one direction, but Eddie will eventually find his balance and restore gravity to his world with his kid. You can look forward to seeing that in upcoming episodes.

What about Buck? What does his journey looking like for the rest of the season?

Buck, as Maddie said, needs to learn the lesson of being alone again. He also needs to find his own equilibrium, because he was definitely knocked off his axis with just everything that happened: Losing his best friend and a kid who means a lot to him and also getting dumped by his first boyfriend.

He needs to find his center of gravity again, so that’s what he’ll be doing — until I just knock it all out again.

This episode also introduces Bobby’s mother into the mix, who seems determined to fix their relationship before she dies. Where does this storyline go from here?

That’s where it goes right now. I think mom’s back out on the road with Charlie. But there’s a little bit of healing that has happened between Bobby and his mom. He’s kind of forgiven her for not laying down and dying after his dad died.

I think that most of his resentment was around his father and not so much her. But I mean, just seeing that she went off and was like this caterpillar that bloomed into whatever kind of butterfly you would say she’s turned into. That’s what he’s resented, because Bobby got stuck for a long time trying to save his father by becoming his father, and going through some of the same downward spirals that his dad went through. The fact that his mom left that relationship not only unscathed, but to flourish. I think that is what pissed him off the most. And he’s coming to grips with that. He’s continuing to heal from those past wounds and started to see himself as someone who belongs in the world.

How much did you already know about Bobby’s upbringing before introducing this family we have met now?

A lot of this bloomed from doing the episode last year where we saw him as a kid and met his dad, and saw that he did have a brother and he did have a mother. This year I was thinking about, “Well, I wonder what happened to them?” So that’s where that story came from. And also, you are eight seasons into a show and he’s never talked about his mother before, there must be a reason. So that informs how you come to crafting the answers to those questions.

Elsewhere in the “9-1-1” universe, Chris O’Donnell was cast in the Nashville spinoff and it’s officially coming next season. How is that development process going?

It’s going great. More casting is happening. There’s a writer’s room that Rashad (Raisani, former “9-1-1: Lone Star” showrunner) is running and locations are being scouted in Tennessee, since we’re going to shoot it there. So that’s all happening.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

“9-1-1” airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC and streams the next day on Hulu.

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