‘9-1-1’s Oliver Stark Teases Buck & Eddie Issue After Premiere Incident With Chris & Theo

Buck (Oliver Stark) is still figuring things out when it comes to being a foster parent to Theo, the kid his friends had with his help as a sperm donor. As 9-1-1 Season 10 gets underway, he’d already had multiple hospital visits because of Theo accidentally hurting him.

Then, while over at Eddie’s (Ryan Guzman) to have dinner with him and his son Chris (Gavin McHugh), Theo kicked a ball into Chris’ crutch, causing the teen to fall. He was OK, but Eddie agreed it was time to go. The best friends didn’t have time to talk about that, though, due to the incidents leading up to the volcano now threatening Los Angeles. You know, typical 9-1-1 stuff.

Below, Oliver Stark discusses how things are going for Buck and Theo, if there will be any fallout with Eddie from that premiere incident with Theo and Chris, the 9-1-1: Nashville crossover this week, and more.

How does Buck feel things are going with Theo? Because as the premiere showed us, he is a handful.

Oliver Stark: Yeah, he is a handful. I think justifiably so. He was already clearly struggling with some aspects prior to the death of his parents. So now having had his life so uprooted, I think it’s pretty normal to see him acting out in different ways. He is four years old. And yeah, no, it is a lot for Buck. I think Buck is doing the best he can. I think as we go deeper into the story, we’ll see that Buck is aware that it’s difficult and it’s not an easy thing to try and navigate, and Buck doesn’t obviously have any experience in this. So he’s working out as he goes and he’s trying to balance his logical and his more emotional side.

Disney/Christopher Willard

When we spoke at the end of last season, you’d stressed that this is a foster situation right now. So how does Buck feel about that, the more time he’s spending with Theo? Is adoption going to be coming up? Is that something he’s thinking about?

I don’t think so. Certainly not as far as we’ve progressed into the season. He’s not trying to take any steps to make it permanent. I don’t think he necessarily is actively thinking about it either way. I don’t think he looks at Theo and thinks this is a temporary situation, but I also don’t think he looks at it and thinks it is a permanent situation. I think he’s just taking it day by day and trying to do the best that he can by his child.

On the one hand, what happened at dinner with Chris and Theo feels like it could lead to some tension between Buck and Eddie, just in terms of that can’t happen again, it could have been bad. But on the other hand, they’re dealing with a volcano right now, so that’s obviously put aside, but is there anything coming up there?

Yeah, definitely. And only from a place of care, Eddie wants the best for Buck and the best for Theo, and he does have some experience in raising a child single-handedly. So he’s definitely going to have some opinions. Some will go down better with Buck than others.

Yeah, because even before that, Eddie was concerned given Buck’s hospital visits that he found out about. And so are there conversations specifically about that coming up? Is anyone else being brought into this also?

Certainly at the start, it’s more of a contained Eddie and Buck, I hesitate to say issue, but issue between them. Eddie wants, as I say, the best for them. And I think Buck is coming from a place of I’m just really trying to do the best I can, and this is a difficult situation and I know I’m not perfect in it. And there’s definitely some ego involved as well. I think it’s always a difficult thing when somebody points out that you’re not doing as well as you hope to be doing.

Related

'9-1-1': Oliver Stark Picks His Favorite Buck Moments With Bobby, Eddie, Maddie & More

Are we going to see Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) weighing in on how Buck’s doing with Theo?

Yeah, she’ll be there for him. It’s not that Buck necessarily asks Maddie for advice, but she understands the situation and she does the best that she can, and there is definitely some input from her as things play out between them.

I have to say, I like the crossover with Nashville this week and that nice callback all the way to the pilot, but also it shows how far Buck has come because now Buck was the steady person in that situation. 

Yes, it was great fun. I really loved last season when I got to go over there and work in the flesh with those guys, and I had such a great time on that crossover. So the fact that we get to do a little mini one so soon into the season, I was really excited for it. I only wish I could have actually got to speak with them. That would’ve been even better.

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