Oliver Stark’s 9-1-1 character, Evan “Buck” Buckley, is preparing for best friend Eddie Diaz’s move to Texas — and he is not handling it well.
“He’s dealt with abandonment issues his whole life, and that is a huge piece of the puzzle and the makeup of who he is, is that he has felt abandoned many times,” Stark, 33, exclusively told Us Weekly ahead of the midseason premiere. “And I think something about the 118 and Eddie, in particular, because of their bond outside of the 118, he is someone that Buck didn’t expect to deal with that from.”
Stark pointed out that Buck’s deeply rooted abandonment issues stem back to the “Buck Begins” episode in season 4, when he learned that he had an older brother who died of leukemia just after he was born — and that he was conceived with the hopes of donating his bone marrow to his sick sibling.
Warning: Spoilers below for season 8, episode 9 of 9-1-1.
9-1-1’s Oliver Stark Says Buck Doesn’t ‘Understand’ His Jealousy of Eddie
In “Sob Stories,” which premiered on Thursday, March 6, those abandonment issues rear their ugly head once again when, despite his best attempts, Buck can’t help but spiral over Eddie’s (Ryan Guzman) impending move to the Lone Star state to be closer to son Christopher (Gavin McHugh).
From sabotaging potential subletters to a knee-jerk pet adoption, Buck is clearly struggling over losing his biggest confidant. Stark said the abandonment hits “extra hard” for Buck because when it comes to Eddie, he “never” expected to have to say goodbye.
“I think that’s the basis of why it hits him so hard, because it’s something that he depended on so much and put so much stability in, and faith in that stability,” he explained, adding that Buck overhearing Eddie telling potential renters that there’s nothing and no one keeping him in L.A. is an extra punch to the gut.
“Listen, nobody wants to hear what he heard Eddie say, right? Eddie didn’t mean it in this way, but Buck has clearly interpreted that as nothing here really matters to me,” Stark explained. “That’s not what Eddie’s saying, not at all, but Buck being the emotional, used-to-abandonment person that he is has heard it and interpreted it that way and he’s run with it. That’s hurtful, and he’s acting from a place of hurt and regurgitated trauma.”
Stark added that Eddie is “obviously a huge part” of Buck’s life — “There’s no denying that,” he said — noting that Buck starts the episode “intent on helping” his friend rent out his apartment before things quickly go awry.
“He really wants to be that good friend to him and be a part of the process and take the weight off Eddie’s shoulders as much as possible,” Stark insisted. “And I think, in doing that, he almost convinces himself that he wants [him to move] and [if] it’s best for Eddie, then it’s best for me.”
Buck, Stark pointed out, “almost has blinders on” about how painful Eddie leaving actually is. “He won’t let himself feel those emotions because he wants to be a supportive friend and wants to just be there and help. So he wasn’t allowing himself to really delve into those emotions and [think about] how difficult it will be for him. Because he would then be an obstruction in the way of getting it done,” Stark explained, adding with a smile, “As he ends up being.”
True to form, Buck ends up doing the right thing by episode’s end, going above and beyond by actually signing up — under fake name Freddie Fakeman — to rent Eddie’s home while he’s gone. Before that moment of clarity, however, Buck and Eddie find themselves at odds in a way viewers don’t often see. That tension was something Stark enjoyed playing into, even for just a beat.
“It’s always fun to tap into that. We all have a really great level of trust and safety with each other as a cast. So in those moments where we do get to be a bit more antagonistic toward each other, it’s fun,” he confessed. “Like, I love that stuff, to kind of push those buttons and see how far you can push the envelope on it. Conflict is drama and makes for great TV. I’m always here for that.”
Drama is served up in spades in “Sob Stories” — and we’re not even talking about that whole Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) being kidnapped thing. As Eddie reaches his limit over Buck sabotaging his moving plans, he accuses Buck of “always making it about” himself. For Stark, however, the situation is more complex.
“I think that’s what we all do to some extent, right? We all have reactions to scenarios,” Stark argued. “We feel how we feel and we react. Buck only can react to any given situation from where he stands within it. And he’s truthful in the scene where he says, ‘It’s not even a question that I’m not asking you to not go and get your son. Of course your son wins.’ He’s not delusional, he is not stupid and he wouldn’t want that. But he is also hurt.”
Human beings, Stark explained, can feel and want multiple things at once. “At the same time, you can want someone to go and do the thing that’s best for them and you are gonna miss them, you know? That doesn’t mean that [he wants] Christopher to be alone forever. It’s just that he’s a complex being ,as we all are, and he is feeling more than one thing at the same time.”
In the end, Buck’s hopes for Eddie and Christopher’s happiness to win out, and Buck finishes the episode feeling good about his decision to rent Eddie’s apartment. But, according to Stark, those positive feelings won’t last very long.
“I think that it’s just not as smooth of a transition as he’s expecting it to be,” Stark told Us of Buck’s new digs. “You know, he’s moving into a space that reminds him of his missing friend. So, yeah … not gonna be as smooth of a transition as he was hoping, or expecting, it to be.”
Will Buck turn to a new dog? After all, the first one he saved from the fire ultimately went home to its rightful owners. (Whoa, everyone really does always leave Buck!) Stark said that he would “love” a pooch pal for his character, but as a dog owner himself, isn’t sure it would make much sense.
Buck Gets Comforted by a Pantsless Eddie on ‘9-1-1’: Friendship Timeline
“The issue is, firefighters work very long hours. Who’s gonna take care of that dog? Is that dog gonna get walks? Is it gonna be let out to pee? These are the questions that I have to ask,” he joked. “And I like the idea of working with a dog more, but the practicality of it for Buck, I just don’t know.”
So if no dog, then what’s next for Buck? That remains under wraps, but whatever it is, viewers are seemingly in for a ride. When asked how he’d describe the rest of Buck’s season 8 journey in three words, Stark told Us: “Uncomfortable, opportunity and devastating.” Well, that sounds alarming!
9-1-1 airs on ABC Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET.
