Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers from Monday’s episode of Fox’s “9-1-1,” entitled “In Another Life.” Well, “9-1-1” fans, you can stop holding your breath, because Evan “Buck” Buckley (Oliver Stark) came back to life following his literal shocking “death” from a lightening bolt strike during the March 6 episode.
But before he returned to us, and the 118, Buck had to journey through a world created in his coma brain in which his older brother, Daniel (played by “Mad Men” alum Aaron Staton), had lived and Buck never became a firefighter.
During the episode, Buck has a very “It’s a Wonderful Life” experience in learning what the lives of Bobby (Peter Krause), Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt), Eddie (Ryan Guzman), Chimney (Kenneth Choi) and more of his friends and family would be like if that one thing had changed.
Variety spoke with Stark about Buck’s death and return to life, all the Easter eggs hidden in Buck’s coma world for “9-1-1” fans and where Buck goes from here for the rest of Season 6. How did the “9-1-1” writers let you know you would die this season, and what was your initial reaction to the plan? Oliver Stark: [Showrunner] Kristen Reidel called me and said, “So I have some news.” I said, “OK…” She said, “You’re gonna die,” and I didn’t want to answer immediately, just in case there was more to that statement, and she did in fact follow up with, “Obviously, not forever.” To which I said, “Is it obvious?” And she said, “It is to me.” It was nice to get that phone call before anything came out.
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