9-1-1 star Oliver Stark has shared new details about Buck’s journey in season nine.
On 9 October, the beloved series created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Tim Minear returned with an explosive episode.
Like previous premieres, the episode began with a larger-than-life disaster. However, instead of a swarm of killer bees or pirates, our favourite batch of first responders faces a whale rescue and a looming space threat, with Athena (Angela Bassett) and Hen (Aisha Hinds) at the centre.
The episode also brought significant developments for Buck (Stark) and Eddie (Ryan Guzman), with Buck struggling to adjust to his best friend’s new role as a paramedic following Bobby Nash’s (Peter Krause) death.
Unsurprisingly, the change does not sit well with Buck, and as the episode unfolds, we see him navigate his feelings about losing his work connection to Eddie.
Following the episode’s release, Stark spoke to US Weekly about his character’s journey in season nine, including his and Eddie’s evolving dynamic.
“He’s not jubilant and happy [about it], but I don’t think it’s sadness, either. I think he just wants to be as normal as they can be,” the British actor explained.
“They’re already dealing with such a big loss, and now he just feels like there’s more change compounding on top of that. There’s such a big part of the 118 missing now. He just wants the rest of it to fall into line in the way he knows and loves and understands.”
In addition to Buck’s struggles with Eddie, Stark teased that season nine will further explore his character’s bisexuality, which he hopes will provide viewers with more educational insights.
“I do think there’s been some ignorance around people thinking that Buck is now a gay man, because since his coming out, we’ve seen him with Tommy, and that’s it,” he said.
“And not that he has to now go run off and be with a woman just to balance that out or anything. But there just needs to be conversations to help educate an audience. Not in a heavy way, not in a beating anybody over the head with it, but to delve deeper into it.”
While Stark said that Buck won’t be “actively trying to date anybody” for now, he added that the Station 118 first responder will find himself in “some situations.”
Lastly, the 34-year-old actor revealed whether his character will vocally label himself as bisexual.
Although Buck came out as not straight in season seven, he has yet to officially define his sexuality.
“I can tell you the first few episodes of the season, he talks to people, and he does have discussions about himself. And I see no reason why he won’t use the word bisexual, but he’s certainly talking about his bisexuality,” he continued.
“I don’t know if he uses the word, but he’s certainly very honest and open about the fact that he is attracted to more than one gender in upcoming episodes.”
Stark’s recent interview comes a few weeks after he celebrated Bi Visibility Day in a heartwarming video.
“Good morning, I just want to come on here and make a quick video because it is [Bi Visibility] Day, and one of my biggest joys of playing Buck over the past eight and nine seasons is getting to tell the story of him discovering his bisexuality,” Stark exclaimed while walking on a treadmill shirtless.
“I hope truly that we offered up some kind of positive representation. I’m really super proud of getting to be a part of this storyline, and I know that there are a lot of people who think bisexual men are just too scared to come out as gay and whatever it is, and that’s obviously not the case.”
Towards the end of his statement, Stark expressed his hopes of “hammering that point home” in the upcoming ninth season of 9-1-1, adding that he was excited to delve deeper into it.
“It’s just such an honour to get to be a part of telling this story. So, thank you guys,” he concluded.