Peter Krause on Bobby and Athena’s House, Brad at the 118, More

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 7 “Hotshots.”]

Bobby (Peter Krause) is about to have his hands full at the 118 on 9-1-1 because he can’t escape Brad (Callum Blue).

The Hotshots actor first tries to get him reassigned back to the show as its tech advisor—he hates Gerrard (Brian Thompson)—then shocks the 118’s captain by showing up at the end of the second to last episode of 2024 to reveal he’ll be shadowing him. Below, Krause discusses that ending, Bobby and Athena’s (Angela Bassett) house, Brad, and more. (Plus, read what Blue had to say about the “real” Brad and more here.)

Does Bobby think he maybe saw the real Brad with the way that he treated the waitress in the restaurant?

Peter Krause: I think Bobby is at odds with all things Hollywood. He enjoys being a firefighter and the leader of the team. I think he sees Brad as a complete person, and Bobby has some standards for himself that Brad does not for himself. And in some ways, I think that’s what Brad is seeking. Whatever it might be that feels real about being a firefighter does involve sort of a code of honor, I guess, for Bobby seeing him mistreat somebody. It’s just bad behavior.

Disney / Carlos Lopez-Calleja

What you just said lines up with what Callum told me earlier today, that Brad looks at Bobby as this real, authentic person.

I think that there’s a sort of emptiness that Brad feels at times that he doesn’t know how to fill that. And I think he’s trying, I mean, hats off to Tim Minear. I think he really did a good job. It’s a very funny character and everything, but there’s some tremendous humanity there and I think you get to see that. I know some of what’s coming up. Brad Torrance does go on a journey, but he is Brad Torrance of TV fame, and I can tell you that the way that the public treats you, it does have an effect on you.

I can remember being in New York City in Manhattan just walking. I was down by Broadway in Soho and I was standing waiting for a light to change, and people started coming out of the subway, and suddenly, a woman grabbed my arm and I turned, and she said, I love you. And I was like, I love you, too. Strangers coming up to you with that sort of energy. And so we get to see that a little bit on 9-1-1 with Brad Torrance that people treat him differently. Even Gerrard, when Gerrard first meets him, which I thought was very funny, and he turns to me and said, “That was Brad Torrance.” He’s a little starstruck, which I thought was an interesting little moment for Tim to write in for Brian as Gerrard.

Speaking of, one of the surprises of this episode was Gerrard being so serious about saying he can change and then hugging Bobby when he agrees to talk to Brad for him. So what is Bobby’s take on Gerrard? Because he is seeing these different sides, but you can’t forget about the past.

Yeah. Gerrard, too, has some vulnerabilities and wants to be liked, wants other people’s approval and acceptance. First of all, I think Brian does a great job as Gerrard. I think that that was something that was both challenging but really interesting for him to get to play. And I also enjoyed the run of hugs in this particular episode. I thought that was a funny little bit as well, between Brad Torrance and Gerrard.

Yeah, apparently Bobby’s very huggable.

Yeah. I was surprised that this was a more violent episode. Not in my storyline, but it was a more violent episode than sometimes we get on 9-1-1.

Disney / Carlos Lopez-Calleja

Bobby gets that surprise at the end with Brad showing up at the 118 and he claims that Bobby blasted the entitlement out of him. And it does feel like if anyone could do that, it would be Bobby. But does Bobby believe him or is he thinking that he’s saying what he thinks Bobby wants to hear? Or is he just too in shock that he cannot get rid of this guy?

Well, I think it’s a little bit of both. I think some of it’s, what new trouble will he bring to the 118 riding along with us? At the same time, I think that obviously Bobby would love to see Brad Torrance turn over a new leaf and maybe he will, or maybe he’ll just learn something along the way, but it’s more the specter of what nuisance he might be riding along with the team.

How is he imagining that this shadowing is going to go? He has to also think about the safety of the people they have to help.

Yes. So it’s an added distraction and an added task for Bobby to have to deal with him while still performing as fire captain on emergencies. There’s some fun stuff coming up.

Talk about working with Callum this season so far, but especially with that scene in the restaurant because it was such a different dynamic for those two characters.

Yeah, it’s been really fun working with him. In the beginning, I’m hired to be the consultant on the TV show Hotshots, and so we have a certain relationship that falls in according to those roles. And then as time goes on, things change. And I’m trying to help out Gerrard and also trying to get back to the 118. And so the relationship between Bobby and Brad changes over time. Certainly it’s different once he’s riding along because now Bobby is the captain and Brad’s got to do what he says. He’s not merely trying to help him as an actor on a show, and he’s got to make sure that Brad doesn’t get in the way to the disadvantage of the 118.

Is there anything at all that Bobby liked about being a tech advisor and working at Hotshots?

Oh gosh, I can’t really think of much of anything except getting to know the people on the crew and Brad.

Disney/Christopher Willard

Next week is the midseason finale, and then there’s a few months off. And Tim told me that it comes a little bit full circle from the beginning of the season. So what can you tease about what that means for Bobby?

I don’t know. I know he’s doing a time leap, and so I don’t know if we will be in a new house, if we’ll still be searching, if we’ll be building something. I’m not sure. He has not said.

I was going to bring up the house because they still need a house. When their house burned down at the end of last season, had you thought that they’d have a new place at the beginning of this season? Did you think it would be stretching on this long?

I thought it would be something we dealt with in the beginning, but I think that there were other more exciting storylines to be had, and I think that the world of Hotshots ended up being really fun, so that expanded. But I’m wondering if he might not just lead right into us being in a new place. I don’t know. I mean, when we first met Bobby Nash in Season 1, he was living in some sort of corporate housing. So I think he’s comfortable, but maybe he needs to be back in more of a home.

But I also like the conversation they had about Michael’s blueprint because as great as that relationship is between Bobby and Michael, it’s true. They can’t just move back into this house that he designed for Athena.

Yeah. Yeah, it seems like not a good idea. [Laughs]

What have been some of your favorite Bobby and Athena scenes so far?

Oh God, there’ve been so many. I mean, I certainly enjoyed last season, the post-strike season with the Poseidon Adventure homage, three episodes that we did. I enjoy these larger disaster movies that we sort of make at the beginning each season, but whenever there’s a disaster or a crime and Bobby and Athena are teaming up, I think that’s a lot of fun.

Would you say that’s your favorite big opening emergency that 9-1-1 has done so far? 

I thought this season was pretty darn good, too. Athena landing the plane on the freeway and Bobby commandeering the fire engine from the Hotshots set, the 118 waiting in that plane hangar and Buck [Oliver Stark] racing to let Bobby know what’s going on. And the two of them teaming up and Brad jumping [in]. I thought that Tim just weaved all that stuff together really nicely along with the Bee-nado. It was one of the more intricate openers that we’ve had, but I think that you can only get there if you’ve done a series for multiple seasons. I think the show continues to grow and change in really interesting ways.

Bobby has had so much trauma in his life, but I feel like we’re starting to see a little more of a lighter side to him. Are we going to continue to get that?

Yeah, I hope so. Again, I don’t know what Tim has planned with this time leap, but I think last season we put a fair amount of his guilt and discomfort over his past to rest through his interactions with Amir, played brilliantly by Malcolm-Jamal Warner. So I don’t know, but I hope so. It’s been a lot more fun to have this lighter fare with Brad Torrance in Hotshots. I think the audience enjoyed it, too.

I do, too. And I do have to say though, I want to see Amir again because you and Malcolm-Jamal Warner together were so good.

Oh, we had a blast together. It was great. He’s really fun to work with.

Are there any types of rescues that you want to do as Bobby that you haven’t gotten a chance to do yet?

Gosh, I don’t know. We’ve done so many at this point. I don’t know. I honestly can’t say.

Yeah, once you save someone in the middle of the ship sinking, I mean, where do you go from there?

Yeah, I mean, I’ve been hanging off the side of the building in the middle of the night. I’ve been underwater, you name it.

9-1-1, Thursdays, 8/7c, ABC