For 9-1-1 fans, there will forever be a “before” and an “after” on Thursday, April 17, 2025. Three weeks ago, a TikTok user went live in downtown Los Angeles as the show filmed the funeral of a major character. When fans saw the firefighter procession, Angela Bassett dressed in black and Bobby Nash’s (Peter Krause) firefighter jacket hanging from the truck, they began to speculate it was all a lie. There was absolutely no way the show would film Bobby’s funeral under the public eye. Usually, major deaths like that one are kept secret for shock value (and to avoid upsetting the viewers).
However, when 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 15, “Lab Rats,” aired, fans realized they were truly losing Bobby Nash. Shortly after the episode aired, Deadline published an interview with Tim Minear, discussing the decision to kill off such an important character. For Minear, Bobby’s death was simply a creative decision. He came to believe that it was necessary for a character to die. By making this choice, the 9-1-1 world became more real.
RELATED: Geek Girl Authority Crush of the Week: Maddie Buckley
Truth be told, losing Bobby feels like a punch straight to the heart of the fans. He is the patriarch of this show, the 118 and the fandom. Alongside Athena (Bassett), Bobby keeps the team — this beautiful found family — together. Without him, the pieces of the puzzle don’t make much sense. There is a reason so many fans are upset and second-guessing whether they will continue watching the show.
There Was Never Any Realism
The entire 9-1-1 franchise became famous for the absurdity of the calls the firefighters responded to. This is the franchise that witnessed Owen Strand (Rob Lowe) perform CPR on a frozen body, breaking a hole through the chest. We watched a beenado, a firefighter getting struck by lightning and a sergeant landing an airplane (almost in pieces) with the help of a 12-year-old boy who learned everything playing a videogame.
The beauty of this show has always been that our favorite characters would make it out alive. Whether a rebar went through their head or a wild serial killer slashed their throats, they were always going to make it home. The extent of their wounds, the craziness of the calls or how much time they spent in the hospital never needed to make sense. That was the reason fans tuned into the show.
RELATED: Geek Girl Authority Crush of the Week: Athena Grant
When someone decides to watch 9-1-1, they’re not doing it because they want a realistic storyline. They tune in for the soap-opera-like drama that keeps them entertained, gives them a good laugh between dramatic moments and guarantees their favorite characters will stay alive many seasons into the show.
For more realistic first responder shows, fans can turn to Chicago Fire. And those who like the thrill of never knowing whether their favorite character will make it to the next episode can watch Grey’s Anatomy. Those kinds of shows prepared their fans for deaths and characters leaving. 9-1-1 sheltered its fans in a protective bubble in which no character would ever know real harm.
Why Bobby?
Minear explained to Deadline that he chose Bobby as the character who died because “I just knew that it would be so meaningful and have such repercussions and give me so much story for the show.” There sure were repercussions, and it might end up backfiring on him if all the fans who promised to stop watching are good on their word.
9-1-1 has two kinds of viewers. The older, more passive viewers who can enjoy the show without discussing it on social media with a fandom. And the hardcore fans who make edits, write fanfiction and live-tweet the show every Thursday. After Bobby’s death, both sides of the audience teamed together to complain and voice their disappointment. Even the older mothers in the audience started commenting on Instagram about how sad they were. Therefore, the choice to kill off Bobby Nash brought everyone together in their anger.
RELATED: Geek Girl Authority Crush of the Week: Henrietta Wilson
A Symbol of Hope
Beyond being a father figure to everyone in the firehouse, Bobby was a symbol of hope, resilience and overcoming life’s challenges. It took Bobby several years after the death of his wife and kids to realize he still deserved to live. There are several times on the show that his suicidal thoughts come through, and viewers can see how much he was struggling. But lately, particularly after Season 7, he seemed finally to be at a point in his life where he wanted to live. Before he dies, he tells Athena he isn’t choosing to go and he would choose to stay with her if he could.
It is hard to see a former suicidal character achieve the happy, healthy life of his dreams and then lose it because of an equipment malfunction on a call. But, following Minear’s line of thought, killing Bobby off affects everyone on the show. The 118 loses their captain, friend, father and mentor, and Athena loses the love of her life. From that moment on, the dynamic of the show is completely changed.
RELATED: Why It Makes Sense That Olivia Benson Is One of the Longest-Running Characters on TV
If it had been anybody else, the characters would have been affected, but the repercussions wouldn’t have been the same. If it had been Athena, the viewers would be as angry as they are now, but only her kids, Bobby and Hen (Aisha Hinds), would have been majorly affected by it. So on with the rest of them; a group would have been severely affected while the rest moved on. With Bobby, the chances of them moving on are slimmer.
Looked at it from that perspective, Bobby’s death is the right creative decision. Nevertheless, that doesn’t make it right or necessary.
Wrong Call
Viewers tune in to their favorite shows week after week because they serve as an escape from reality. Even dramas are a way to forget the hardships and challenges many of us face on a daily basis. 9-1-1 always provided a safe haven in the chaos of reality. It was a world in which we could dive, forgetting about the real world and enjoying the absurdity of every case. The illogical moments were what gave life to the show and allowed us to enjoy while knowing our favorite characters would be okay.
After Bobby Nash’s death, viewers no longer have that safety. Now, 9-1-1 follows the same laws of shows like Grey’s Anatomy, making us feel as if no one is safe anymore. Knowing that someone like Bobby can die leads us to believe none of them are exempt from death. That is not what we signed up for when we decided to become loyal to this franchise, or what was promised when characters like Tommy Vega (Gina Torres) were on their deathbed, but made it out alive.
9-1-1 airs Thursdays on ABC.
- New TV Shows This Week (May 18 – 24) - May 19, 2025
- New TV Shows This Week (May 11 – 17) - May 11, 2025
- THE EQUALIZER Series Finale Recap: (S05E18) Decisions - May 5, 2025
