SPOILERS: This post contains details about the 9-1-1, Season 9 episode ‘Secrets’
With almost nine seasons of playing fun-loving fireman Buck under his belt, Oliver Stark is growing with his 9-1-1 character.
Ahead of this week’s episode ‘Secrets’, the actor spoke to Deadline about the character’s unexpected bisexual love triangle with a married couple he meets during a night out, who happened to be played by “a real husband and wife,” Dean Geyer and Jillian Murray.
“It made it a little awkward, I can’t lie,” he said. “And it didn’t feel awkward until we were shooting the intimate scenes, and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s your real-life husband right there,’ or, ‘oh, that’s your real life wife right there.’ But they were so great and coaching each other, like, ‘Do this a little bit more, arch a little bit more.’ And I was like, ‘Wow, I wish I had that, somebody to like coach me through this.’”
Stark’s behind-the-scenes experience came as Buck begins to realize “he just wants his person” and that his wild life is “not always that fulfilling.”
“He sees that around him, right? He has Hen and Karen, his sister Maddie and Chimney. They have such great relationships, they have their person, they know they’re safe with them,” explained Stark. “And so, while this wild life may seem appealing, I think at the end of the day, what you want is to go home and have your safety there, the person that sees you and understands you. So, I think that’s what this teaches Buck, is that he needs to find his way to that, some way, somehow.”
Meanwhile, two seasons after Buck came out as bisexual, Stark is fully aware of social media’s devoted ‘Buddie’ shippers and understands why fans want to see the character end up with Ryan Guzman‘s Eddie, who remains Buck’s best friend after returning to Los Angeles and the 118.
“Tim Minear, who writes the show, said in an interview a few days ago, he’s actively a fan of the ship of Buddie, and he understands it and roots for it, and doesn’t not like the idea of it, which, I get it as well,” admitted Stark. “I’ve spoken about it in interviews. I say happily that I see the moments that other people see, and you see fan edits and there’s nice romantic music playing over the top of it or whatever it is, and you go, ‘Oh yeah, those do feel like charged moments.’”
Oliver Stark in the ‘9-1-1’, Season 9 episode ‘Secrets’
Raymond Liu/Disney
Read on about Buck’s growth on 9-1-1, how Bobby’s death has affected him and the upcoming 9-1-1: Nashville crossover.
DEADLINE: Buck came out a couple seasons ago. What’s the LGBTQ fan response been since that?
OLIVER STARK: You know, it was so overwhelmingly lovely when that storyline first came around, and I spoke about it a bit at the time, but it’s always nice to look back on it because it really struck me how overwhelmingly positive it was, and I didn’t know how it would go down. You never know what the audience of the show is, demographically, and how they’re going to react to something, and it was just overwhelmingly positive. I think that is probably because that is the theme of the show. So much is about inclusivity, and there’s so much positive representation across the show already, that I think the fan base in general was one that understood and was built around love. So, it was really an honor to get to be a part of it and to get to tell this story, and I’ve really loved being able to continue to do that.
Ryan Guzman, Oliver Stark and Anirudh Pisharody in the ‘9-1-1’, Season 9 episode ‘Secrets’
Christopher Willard/Disney
DEADLINE: This week’s episode is very fun for Buck because he has multiple partners, and he gets to explore his bisexuality. But by the end of it, he’s turning down the whole situation, and it almost feels somewhat out of character for Buck to turn down something like that. But at the same time, I feel like he’s grown a lot since the first season. What is it he’s kind of looking for in life at this point?
STARK: I think it’s a case of, this wild, free life is nice in theory, but it’s not always that fulfilling when it comes to it. And I think this situation teaches him that more than anything, he just wants his person. He sees that around him, right? He has Hen and Karen, his sister Maddie and Chimney. They have such great relationships, they have their person, they know they’re safe with them. And so, while this wild life may seem appealing, I think at the end of the day, what you want is to go home and have your safety there, the person that sees you and understands you. So, I think that’s what this teaches Buck, is that he needs to find his way to that, some way, somehow.
DEADLINE: Dean Geyer and Ryan Guzman look so much alike, I’m wondering if that was a conscious choice to cast someone who kind of looks like Eddie, almost like that’s Buck’s type.
STARK: I don’t believe so, no. I don’t know, actually. So, did you know that that is a real husband and wife?
DEADLINE: Oh, really?
STARK: Yeah. I don’t know about this, this is what I heard, that they were cast completely independently of each other, and they just turned out to be real husband and wife. That feels a little too coincidental, but that’s the story I was told. So, I don’t think it had anything to do with that. I just think that this casting lined up and they both were great for their roles and got the jobs.
Dean Geyer and Jillian Murray in the ‘9-1-1’, Season 9 episode ‘Secrets’
Raymond Liu/Disney
DEADLINE: That’s funny. I love that.
STARK: It made it a little awkward, I can’t lie. And it didn’t feel awkward until we were shooting the intimate scenes, and I was like, “Oh, that’s your real-life husband right there,” or, “Oh, that’s your real life wife right there.” But they were so great and coaching each other, like, “Do this a little bit more, arch a little bit more.” And I was like, “Wow, I wish I had that, somebody to like coach me through this.”
DEADLINE: That’s so funny. That’s goals right there. Of course, I asked about Eddie because all the fans have been shipping Buck and Eddie, even long before Buck came out. And I’m curious if that’s something that you think the writers will ever entertain or do you think it’s maybe a little too unrealistic?
STARK: Honestly, and this is may be a little of a cop out, but I don’t know. I do know, however, that Tim Minear, who writes the show, said in an interview a few days ago, he’s actively a fan of the ship of Buddie, and he understands it and roots for it, and doesn’t not like the idea of it, which, I get it as well. I’ve spoken about it in interviews. I say happily that I see the moments that other people see, and you see fan edits and there’s nice romantic music playing over the top of it or whatever it is, and you go, “Oh yeah, those do feel like charged moments.” So yeah, I’m just happy to keep telling the story of these characters, and if that’s the way that, authentically, Tim decides the story goes, then I think that’s beautiful.
DEADLINE: And beyond the Buck romance storyline of this episode, one part that was hilarious was the chastity belt scene. There’s been a lot of crazy stuff like that on this show, what would you say has been the craziest call or scene for you to shoot?
STARK: There’s crazy in different ways on this show. In some respects, the first thing that flashes into my head is way back in Season 1, where I pulled a tapeworm out of a guy’s ass. That was pretty crazy, just in terms of the quirkiness of it, and I loved that when we did that, Buck was just into it. That’s just a great one. It was so free and easygoing. Then obviously, there’s crazy in terms of scale, when you look at space or a tsunami or whatever it is, and then crazy in terms of the peril that it puts us in. Some of my favorite moments aren’t necessarily the biggest spectacle emergencies, but they’re the ones I had a fire truck dumped on my leg, or Eddie got shot, the ones that really put our characters that we’ve come to know and love right at the edge. I think those are probably the most meaningful ones and feel the most epic to shoot, because it feels like one of our own, and over the years, we have genuinely become a family. So, it’s very easy to bring the urgency and feel that in those moments.
Anirudh Pisharody, Oliver Stark and Ryan Guzman in the ‘9-1-1’, Season 9 episode ‘Secrets’
Christopher Willard/Disney
DEADLINE: Yeah, I was gonna say, like the time Buck got electro—or almost electrocuted.
STARK: Yeah—oh no, I did in fact, I believe I was dead for a few minutes. I think I died for a few minutes, but they brought me back.
DEADLINE: Bobby’s death is obviously such a big moment for the show in general, but how would you say that’s affected Buck when it’s someone who really saw the potential in him from the beginning?
STARK: Yeah, I think it’s really interesting this season to explore the way grief comes in waves. Some episodes, you don’t see it in the characters at all, and then there will suddenly be an episode where he is brought up, and this feeling rushes over them. Or we had this Halloween episode earlier in the season, where Buck thought that Bobby was trying to communicate to him. So, I think it’s nice the way that character will continue to literally haunt the narrative. And he was such a grounding figure for Buck, that when you remove that piece, you’re left with a choice of, do you revert back to your old ways because the thing that was keeping you steady is gone, or do you learn to be that grounding piece for yourself? And I think we’ve actually seen Buck really step up, through his mentorship of the Harry character as well. He’s almost getting to be what Bobby was for him. He’s getting to be that for Harry. And so, I think he’s continuing that legacy in a really positive and lovely, fulfilling way.
DEADLINE: Do you and the cast still talk to Peter much?
STARK: Yeah. Listen, after eight years of this show—and I know every show is obviously an intense experience—but I do feel like there have been things that we’ve gone through as a cast that have particularly bonded us, just time spent. And it’s not like we speak every day anymore, but over Christmas, we spoke, and New Year’s. We still have a group chat with all of us, and seeing his name pop up in it is always lovely. He’s spoken about on set a lot and missed. We just shot something earlier today from episode 10 with this little kid, and he came up to me. He’s a kid in the emergency, and he said, “Can I ask you a question? Do you miss Bobby?” And I say, “Yeah, we all miss him.” He will always be missed. He was such a big part of the show, and it’s about finding ways to move forward without him on screen, but also off screen.
Oliver Stark and Anirudh Pisharody in the ‘9-1-1’, Season 9 episode ‘Secrets’
Christopher Willard/Disney
DEADLINE: Being on the show since the beginning, for nine seasons, Buck has changed on so many levels. Can you tell me anything about what the future holds for Buck or what you hope to see for Buck?
STARK: It’s funny you say that, because yes, it has been a long time, and so we’ve watched Buck grow up a little bit, which is something that as we move deeper into the season, he’s going to start to erestle with a little bit, that he’s not the young guy anymore and maybe he doesn’t bounce back from things so fast as he moves into his mid-30s, into late 30s. He doesn’t feel the same way that he was feeling in Season 1, and we do have other people around us that are young and spright, and that’s going to be an adjustment of identity for Buck that he’s going to have to deal with as we go forward. And I like that because I think that’s part of the journey to maturing and understanding that it’s OK to not still be the 20-year old version of yourself, and so I look forward to continuing that story and watching him grow into this current form.
DEADLINE: Also I’ve been watching 9-1-1: Nashville, and I’m curious what’s to come with the upcoming crossover.
STARK: Buck’s going. Buck and Eddie are going, we’ll actually be there for episode 12. I can say that much. Oh yeah, we’re going. I can’t tell you why we’re going. But it’s a good time.
