{"id":474851,"date":"2026-05-08T13:54:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T13:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/474851\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T13:54:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T13:54:14","slug":"9-1-1-finale-ryan-guzman-on-eddie-fate-buck-relationship-and-ice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/474851\/","title":{"rendered":"‘9-1-1’ Finale: Ryan Guzman on Eddie Fate, Buck Relationship and ICE"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t[This story contains major spoilers from the season nine finale of 9-1-1<\/a>, \u201cHearts and Flowers.\u201d]<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tRyan Guzman<\/a> has learned to roll with the punches on 9-1-1. Back in 2021, when his firefighter-paramedic character, Eddie Diaz, was shot by a sniper, the actor genuinely feared for his job security. But when he recently learned that Eddie was going to face another near-death experience, Guzman\u2019s reaction was surprisingly blas\u00e9, despite the fact that the ABC first-responder procedural had just killed off its first main character last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe get these production packets [from showrunner Tim Minear], so we never get a full script, really. It always keeps us on the edge of our seat,\u201d Guzman tells The Hollywood Reporter with a wry smile. \u201cThe show always throws curveballs at us, and we\u2019ve become used to it after nine seasons of adjusting to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn Thursday\u2019s season finale, Eddie is caught in the crosshairs of Anatoly Caster (Alan Starzinski), the scion of a corrupt businessman who was the target of a police raid, led by protagonist Athena Grant (Angela Bassett<\/a>), for facilitating a human trafficking ring involving migrants in Los Angeles. After becoming dissatisfied with the crooked Major Crimes detective Ben Hooks (Josh Stamberg), who shot Athena at the end of the penultimate episode in a desperate attempt to cover up his involvement in the scheme, Anatoly decides to avenge his late father by showing up to the hospital where Athena is being treated with a gun.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter he overhears Eddie make a snide comment to Chimney (Kenneth Choi) about how the one silver lining is that \u201cthe bastard that did this is already dead,\u201d Anatoly follows Eddie into the hospital chapel. Upon learning that Athena made it out of surgery alive, he then stabs Eddie in the abdomen and steals his phone. A woozy Eddie manages to claw his way to the elevator, but he ends up getting stuck after a nurse initiates a hospital-wide lockdown. It isn\u2019t until Anatoly is apprehended that the rest of the 118 is able to come to Eddie\u2019s rescue \u2014 and, of course, it was Eddie\u2019s best friend, Buck (Oliver Stark), who was the first to notice he was MIA.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a wide-ranging chat with THR, Guzman opens up below about why he fought for Eddie to be included in the show\u2019s ICE raid storyline, how playing this character has helped him come to terms with his own identity \u2014 and how he thinks Eddie\u2019s \u201cnaivety\u201d factors into his fan-favorite relationship with Buck.<\/p>\n

\n\t***<\/p>\n

\n\tEddie has fought his way back from death\u2019s door multiple times on <\/strong>9-1-1<\/strong>, but he really could have bled out in that hospital elevator if the police didn\u2019t get there any sooner to end the lockdown. How did you approach playing Eddie in the aftermath of that stabbing? Was there anything in particular that you think was going through his mind in what could have been his final moments?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tEddie\u2019s seen battle before, so he\u2019s gotten shot at countless times now. Stabbing is nothing. (Laughs.) So [executive producer Bradley Buecker, who also directed the finale, said] we can make a meal out of it, but at the end of the day, we\u2019re going to play this suspension of disbelief and build that tension into the character\u2019s story going into the elevator. But when we get into the elevator, it\u2019s going to be very quick before the 118 comes and helps. So let\u2019s not play it too crazy because Eddie will be fine. This [finale] is the big \u201caha\u201d moment for Athena [to become a detective], not Eddie.<\/p>\n

\n\tI believe [Eddie thought about his son] Christopher [played by Gavin McHugh] \u2014 the one true love that he\u2019s had in his life \u2014 and that he\u2019s got to stay alive for that kid. So going through the obstacles of trying to go from the church to find help, and then going to the elevator, and then within the elevator shutting down, he\u2019s like, \u201cOkay, we\u2019re here for the long haul. What\u2019s the best-case scenario in this worst-case scenario? Let me try and find some way I can pack this wound, stop the bleeding as much as I can, and give some timeframe to others to help.\u201d At the end of the day, it wasn\u2019t looking too good for him. (Laughs.) So he was going a lot on faith.<\/p>\n

\n\tEddie looked real pale in that elevator!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tReal pale and bloody. (Laughs.)<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile Eddie lays in a hospital bed, he tells his son Christopher that he doesn\u2019t want him to be sitting there all night by his bedside. Chris responds, \u201cWhy not? You did it for me.\u201d There\u2019s another flicker of realization in Eddie\u2019s eyes that Chris is not a little kid anymore. How is Eddie grappling with the idea of becoming an empty nester sooner rather than later?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI don\u2019t know if Eddie\u2019s ready for that. He\u2019s put so much time and effort into becoming the dad of Christopher. A majority of his identity is around that. So if there\u2019s no kid to take care of now, and the kid has grown up to a certain point \u2014 actually, Gavin just had his 16th birthday yesterday, it\u2019s so crazy. But it\u2019s like, \u201cWhat do I do with my life now? Where\u2019s my purpose? My purpose was my child, and now my child is trying to take care of me.\u201d It\u2019s flipping the script. So, in a sense, it\u2019s actually inviting a lot of opportunity to Eddie. I have hopes for [Eddie] once he starts to understand the new dynamic between Christopher and himself. I feel it invites a lot of gray area [within himself] to be searched out and understood a little bit better.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRyan Guzman, here with Gavin Mchugh, in the season finale.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDisney\/Christopher Willard)<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile <\/strong>9-1-1<\/strong> has never been shy about drawing inspiration from real-life emergencies, the writers have never leaned into topical events, apart from the COVID-19 pandemic, quite like they did in last week\u2019s episode with ICE agents raiding a hospital where migrants were being treated. Is it true that you had to ask Tim to revisit that migrant storyline to include Eddie?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tWhoa, who told you that?<\/p>\n

\n\tI believe you said it <\/strong>in another interview<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\t(Laughs.) I did?<\/p>\n

\n\tYou mentioned that you had a conversation with Tim after reading the end of the season, and he ultimately rewrote a \u201ctopical\u201d storyline to include Eddie.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, we had a conversation \u2014 me, Tim and Brad as well. We all were of the same mind that Eddie was pivotal in this. With 9-1-1, we rarely go after topical events this big, because there\u2019s a lot of people that feel differently about this, but this one had to be told. The Pitt had done it before<\/a>, and now it\u2019s 9-1-1\u2019s version. We got to humanize the experience for the audience, to let the audience understand what the migrant story really is and that they\u2019re people just like any of us. It allows for people to really feel the whole story. Getting pulled from the worst conditions in some basement, and then going into this recovery process, all just to get taken away and deported again and thrown into these encampments is a horrible idea to wrap your head around. So I\u2019m grateful that Tim wrote that in, and Brad and I wanted to do it justice.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen did you guys have that conversation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tIt was the same day that we had gotten some semblance of the script for the last episode. After reading it, I was just curious why Eddie was more involved in one storyline than the other, and then it brought upon the conversation between Tim and I. Tim made the ultimate decision to put Eddie into it.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat did you actually make of Eddie\u2019s involvement in these final episodes?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tFrom the moment that Eddie is leading the 118 to go find the room [where the migrants were being held], I felt tied to the storyline, being as topical as it is. And representing Mexican-American culture, I felt like it was a disservice if I didn\u2019t speak up and allow Eddie to attach himself to this storyline a little bit more than was presented, especially when he\u2019s holding the child and bringing him to the ambulance. I\u2019m like, \u201cYou\u2019re getting twofold [representation] there.\u201d One, you\u2019re getting a representation of, \u201cWhoa, this could have been Christopher. They\u2019re the same age.\u201d And then second, \u201cThis is my people. This is my heritage.\u201d It brings up the question: \u201cWhat am I doing about it?\u201d So when the opportunity presents itself, I just felt that it was befitting of Eddie to put his foot forward and showcase that we got to do everything we possibly can to help these people out.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat has it been like for you to watch that kind of aggressive enforcement of immigration play out from afar on the news and now in this fictional context? Did it feel viscerally different from other storylines you\u2019ve played out on <\/strong>9-1-1<\/strong>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tAbsolutely. I have many, many family members that have been affected \u2014 that could be affected \u2014 and it\u2019s very, very real. In a time and age where anything and everything can be used against you and you\u2019re [considered] guilty first before being proven innocent, I\u2019m in awe a lot of the times when I look at the news. I can\u2019t believe a nation founded on immigrants is treating immigrants in the worst ways.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo I\u2019m, again, very proud that 9-1-1 was able to showcase this in a way of, \u201cHow can we help migrants? How can we help people? What are we willing to do to get around these obstacles?\u201d In truth, a lot of people that I\u2019m watching on the news don\u2019t have the resources in their day-to-day lives, and it takes money to get people out of certain encampments. These videos that I\u2019ve seen, man, they\u2019re horrible. Watching kids being taken away from their mothers; people being taken from the hospital, their jobs. It\u2019s a bad situation.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn the flip side, you had an opportunity to showcase a different \u2014 and more celebratory \u2014 side of Mexican culture in the \u201cD\u00eda de Los Muertos\u201d episode, in which Eddie loses his <\/strong>abuela<\/strong> abruptly but reconnects with his faith. After eight seasons of playing him, what did that episode reveal to you about Eddie as a character, and what did that storyline mean to you personally?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tFrom a character perspective, Eddie found that he was more spiritual, and his faith was stronger than he\u2019d believed. Eddie was able to understand that everything that he had gone through the past 7-8 years led him to that moment, because he handled the passing of his abuela much differently than any other death. He was able to essentially mature in that episode and showcase that maturity and vulnerability, yet not losing himself through the vulnerability because now he has [developed] emotional intelligence. He was able to pull from all these profound messages that he got from his abuela and Bobby [the late fire captain played by Peter Krause<\/a>] \u2014 the two most influential figures to him in the past years \u2014 and go full circle in that storyline, which was beautiful to me.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat specific episode made me so profoundly proud of my culture. I was looking around at plenty of the Latin people that work with us. Many of them happened to be Mexican, and I was asking them, \u201cHave you ever experienced something like this?\u201d And they said, \u201cNo.\u201d Plenty of times, we would stop and watch everybody come down that street dressed up and celebrating the passing of their loved ones, and you get emotional. It\u2019s this out-of-body experience. I was just thanking God and so grateful that I happened to be born Mexican-American. This is the culture that I pull from.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGuzman (second from right) with Elijah M. Cooper, Anirudh Pisharody and Aisha Hinds.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDisney\/Christopher Willard<\/p>\n

\n\tAs a mixed-race person, how has your relationship with your cultural identity changed over time? Do you feel like your increased visibility has come with any added pressure or responsibility?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tAbsolutely. Earlier on in my career, people didn\u2019t really know what nationality I was, so I would rep Mexican pretty hard because a lot of people would think I was just strictly white, and then they\u2019d start saying certain things about Mexicans in front of me. So I wanted it to be known that, \u201cNo, no, no, you can\u2019t say that. You\u2019re not getting the pass around me. If you\u2019re going to say it around me, then be aware.\u201d Since the show though, I have seen a lot more representation being thrust upon me and my involvement meaning a lot more.<\/p>\n

\n\tI struggled with identity for the longest time, but my understanding now is that I represent a specific group of Mexican-Americans. I\u2019m biracial, first and foremost. I can be white-passing plenty of times. I was raised a \u201cno sabo\u201d kid. So there\u2019s plenty of Mexican-Americans that look like me, sound like me, walk like me. I think everybody\u2019s so used to the stereotypical Mexican. They have that ingrained in their mind from years and years of being pushed this narrative. I\u2019ve now seen an opportunity again to showcase to not only just the U.S., but to the world, that we come in different flavors, sizes, shapes \u2014 and here I am.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou have drawn a number of uncanny parallels between you and Eddie over the years \u2014 to the point that you\u2019ve been able to play out some moments on TV before they happened to you in real life. Do you ever feel like Tim is pulling inspiration directly from your own life? How would you characterize your working relationship with him?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\t(Laughs.) Oh yeah, it\u2019s crazy. You know that whole conspiracy about The Simpsons writing the future? Tim tapped into a little bit of that, so I don\u2019t know what he\u2019s doing on his personal time. (Laughs.) But it\u2019s eerie, to be honest, when that happens. Maybe it\u2019s synchronicity, maybe it\u2019s fortune-telling, but I\u2019m glad that I get an opportunity with the character to work out all these different things so that when it happens in real life, I feel like I\u2019ve already done the work.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs far as my relationship with Tim, I\u2019m so grateful for him. He\u2019s helped me so much throughout the entirety of this show. Our communication has never been better, and our relationship has never been better. He\u2019s one of those rare showrunners that is so open to collaboration if you have something of worth to add to the character, or if something\u2019s not feeling right with the character. I\u2019ve worked with other showrunners, and it\u2019s hard to get in contact with them \u2014 or they\u2019re not open to hearing anything from you. Tim is quite the opposite. His whole schtick is that he\u2019ll get the script to you 10 days late, but outside of that, it\u2019s because he\u2019s reworking everything he possibly can to make your character shine.<\/p>\n

\n\tDid you two discuss Eddie having a love interest this season? You said months ago that something was \u201ccooking\u201d in Eddie\u2019s romantic life, but that ultimately never materialized.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, we did. There was an opportunity with something happening in Eddie\u2019s storyline. It didn\u2019t pan out the way we saw it. We had hopes, but at the end of the day, if something\u2019s not working, you have to adjust and you have to make something [new] to fill that space. So it became less about Eddie\u2019s love story \u2014 that\u2019s been pretty prevalent in the past couple seasons \u2014 and it became more about the involvement of Eddie in his 118 family and his overall growth as a human being.<\/p>\n

\n\tBuck and Eddie\u2019s road trip from hell right after the <\/strong>9-1-1: Nashville<\/strong> crossover was a particular highlight this season. After they are separated in a car accident, Eddie breaks himself out of the hospital to find Buck, Buck even tries to sacrifice himself to protect Eddie, and then they ultimately save each other. It felt like a testament to just how close these two guys have grown over the years.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI feel like we found the secret sauce with that relationship \u2014 the back and forth [between] Buck and Eddie \u2014 and the fans spoke for themselves for that episode. I believe it did really, really good [ratings-wise]. So I like the fact that we dive into more of the humorous parts between those two characters, because there\u2019s a lot of humor to play off of. God, when you really look at it, they do oppose each other a lot in different attributes. It\u2019s a perfect balance of positive\/negative, negative\/positive. One\u2019s super hopeful about a drive home; the other one\u2019s trying to be realistic\/pessimistic about everything. That relationship continues to evolve, and what it\u2019s evolved to already is more than Oliver and I even had intended for, let alone understood, in the beginning.<\/p>\n

\n\tEddie and Buck have this really great verbal argument at a diner in New Mexico, and a homophobic patron remarks that he\u2019s never seen their \u201ctype\u201d before. Do you think Eddie was aware of how he and Buck came across as a bickering married couple to these locals?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tNo, I think Eddie lives in such naivety, and he\u2019s oblivious to so much that that\u2019s kind of the texture of the character. I think if he knew what that looked like or played into that, it wouldn\u2019t read as well, to be honest. So him having that spat with Buck, not knowing that he looks like the exact married couple that you see on TV, amplifies that scene. When the guy starts talking, \u201cI\u2019ve never seen your type over here,\u201d Eddie has no clue where that\u2019s coming from, and he\u2019s just so irate at that point that he\u2019s looking to throw his anger at somebody. So he goes after that guy, and he just leans into it, and it\u2019s still not clicking to him like, \u201cWhat the hell\u2019s happening?\u201d He just wants to hurt somebody. But yeah, I think, again, his naivety is what\u2019s allowing all the tension to build.<\/p>\n

\n\tEddie doesn\u2019t know that Buck\u2019s sister Maddie (<\/strong>Jennifer Love Hewitt<\/strong><\/a>) and ex Tommy (<\/strong>Lou Ferrigno Jr.<\/strong><\/a>) both questioned Buck about whether he was in love with Eddie last season. But I guess you think Eddie has never even asked himself if Buck might be interested in him.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tYeah. (Laughs.) You don\u2019t know what you don\u2019t know, at the end of the day.<\/p>\n

\n\tFans have <\/strong>very<\/strong> strong opinions about whether Buck and Eddie\u2019s relationship is platonic or romantic. Is there a reason that you think the writers have been reluctant to commit one way or another to defining their dynamic?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThat would be more of a question for Tim, to be honest, and I wouldn\u2019t want to speculate on their own answers. But, again, the true nature of why I feel we\u2019ve lasted for so long and [why] we\u2019re going into our 10th season<\/a> is because each person that plays each character coexists with the other person in such a nice way, and we pull from each other so well. So when the camera calls cut and we go back into our regular lives, we\u2019re having so much fun and we\u2019re diving deep into each other\u2019s lives, helping each other with certain things. It builds this textured life that reads so well on camera. And to commit to any sides of the characters themselves, I don\u2019t know. I think from a writing standpoint, maybe that limits the tension, or the opportunities for possibilities. There\u2019s so much to say that I wouldn\u2019t be able to give you a full answer.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s a fair answer. Tim <\/strong>recently said<\/strong><\/a> that, ultimately, \u201cthe possibility of [Buddie]\u201d is what makes that dynamic \u201cexciting.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tExactly.<\/p>\n

\n\tHave you ever leaned one way or the other when it came to how you see or choose to play that dynamic?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tNo, if anything, I\u2019ve leaned more into just playing the truth of where Eddie is. That\u2019s his best friend, and he cares about him in a very, very deep way. I pull from my own experiences [and] my best friends. I\u2019d do anything and everything I possibly could for them, especially their families. So I think the truth of Eddie at this point in time is leading into that naivety. And if Buck were to present anything else [to him other than friendship], I haven\u2019t even wrapped my head around how Eddie would understand how to move forward with that \u2014 other than being caught off guard, I guess. It\u2019s almost like when something\u2019s so close, you can\u2019t see [the bigger picture]. It\u2019s right under your nose, but you can\u2019t see it. I think that\u2019s how it\u2019s meant to be played. So, yeah, I have no clue what the future holds. Again, Tim is the Almighty, and we\u2019ll see what happens.<\/p>\n

\n\tBuck has always acted as a kind of co-parent to Christopher, but Buck now has a child of his own because he becomes the foster parent of Theo \u2014 the son that his late friends conceived with Buck as the sperm donor \u2014 at the end of the finale. Do you think Eddie and Buck will start having more conversations about parenting going forward? How could the addition of another child change their dynamic?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tIt could change things a lot. We just talked about Christopher not needing Eddie so much, and maybe now he\u2019s found another kid that needs him. But then again, the dynamic between Theo and Buck is perfect because, as said in a previous episode, [Theo\u2019s] almost the embodiment of Buck. This crazy, chaotic kid is probably going to break every bone in his body as he goes along in life \u2014 he\u2019s almost payback for how Buck was as he grew up. (Laughs.)<\/p>\n

\n\tSo there\u2019s so many learning experiences that are crucial to Buck\u2019s character that happen only for Buck, but there will be a lot of leaning on Eddie in trying to understand how this all works \u2014 being a single dad and time management, and even understanding the psyche of a child and their sleep schedules, and all the things that come with a child. But that also offers so much humor. So we can play the funny moments of that \u2014 not just the crazy and sad moments. There\u2019s so much that we can play. And let me just say that the two kids that play Theo are incredible, because [when they\u2019re] that young, it\u2019s so hard to keep somebody on track. Every single time they called action, they knew exactly what they were doing, when they were doing it, and how to say certain words or lines. So I\u2019m excited to see what evolves with those characters.<\/p>\n

\n\t***<\/p>\n

\n\tAll nine seasons of 9-1-1 are now streaming on Hulu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[This story contains major spoilers from the season nine finale of 9-1-1, \u201cHearts and Flowers.\u201d] Ryan Guzman has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474852,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[265],"tags":[14349,14351,18,117,19,17,67521,128],"class_list":{"0":"post-474851","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-9-1-1","9":"tag-angela-bassett","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-ryan-guzman","15":"tag-tv"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116539298420785455","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}