‘9-1-1’ Boss Previews L.A.’s Volcano & How Eddie’s Helping Buck in Season 10

There’s a whole lotta lava going on as 9-1-1 cracks open Season 10 with a very timely crisis. “We’re starting with a giant sinkhole that, of course, turns into a volcano,” sets up showrunner Tim Minear, laughing that the storyline was already in prep when an actual sinkhole opened up in West Hollywood this past July. “Normally life imitates 9-1-1 after it’s aired, but this one beat us to the punch.”

Much like NBC’s La Brea, the original idea was to have the gorge open up by the city’s famed La Brea tarpits, but Minear says that instead, the crisis will now erupt in “sort of an invented intersection that’ll look familiar probably” in downtown L.A.

And we do mean erupt.

“We base everything on very hard science, so the volcano, as it’s erupting, starts to build up a bit of a cone. So, it’s not like a giant volcano breaks out of the ground in the middle of L.A. — actually, it is a little bit like that, now that I think about it,” he clarifies with a laugh. “Because you want to see a cone!”

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The multi-episode crisis, Minear says, will be “quite catastrophic,” not just for property values but also the general public and Station 118 heroes, especially once they descend upon the sinkhole to save the day. He adds, “A whole tour bus goes into [the sinkhole] and one of our main characters is unfortunately in a really bad place when the thing erupts,” which in turn ignites entire neighborhoods in the pathway of the lava racing out of this subterranean nozzle of death.

On the personal side, things will be just as dramatic (and hot?). Recently promoted LAPD detective Athena (Angela Bassett) is acclimating to her new partner, Det. Newell (Rick Otto), whom Minear confirms isn’t actually that new: “Yeah, you’ve actually saw him briefly in the ‘Eat the Rich’ season opener last season. He was in the walk-in freezer with Captain Maynard when Athena was undercover. You just saw him briefly.”

We’ll see more of him this time around and maybe a side of Athena we haven’t seen much of since she lost Bobby. “I think they’re really fun together,” previews Minear. “Weirdly, Athena is a combination of really experienced and a rookie because she’s new to being officially a detective, but their dynamic is not unlike the dynamics we played with other detectives. It’s supportive and they’re a good team.”

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And speaking of good teams, Minear knows that every new season brings a new hope among a certain part of the fandom. Unfortunately, it sounds like #Buddie is remaining just that. Still, there will definitely be emotional matters a’plenty for firefighting BFFs Buck (Oliver Stark) and Eddie (Ryan Guzman) now that Buck is navigating his new role as foster father to his late friends’ son, who was conceived using Buck’s, um, donation.

“It’s going as you would expect,” Minear offers. “It’s heartwarming and very hard, and he’s making some mistakes.” Thankfully, single-dad Eddie is “doing what he can to mentor him a little bit in that area, which causes some tension and friction.” As for any love interests on the horizon, Minear hints that we’ll have to wait until the smoke clears.

“They’re a little too busy in the first part of the season with volcanoes and just what’s in front of them,” he says.

9-1-1, Season 10 Premiere, Thursday, October 15, 8/7c, ABC