We're still counting down the days until the 118 return from hiatus and get back to action in 911 season 9. Conversely, maybe you're not quite looking forward to it, since last season marked the last with Peter Krause as Bobby Nash. It's going to be a real season of change for the show, the 118, and the fans, but maybe a long-awaited Riverdale comeuppance will prove cathartic. Let's explain.
If you're a Riverdale fan who has been dreaming of a worse ending for Hiram Lodge on behalf of our girl Veronica, 911 season 9 will seemingly deliver the ending he deserved. Along with the reveal of an upcoming disaster for the 118 to navigate, Riverdale vet Mark Consuelos will guest star in an episode of the ABC hit series as a billionaire who's in a sticky situation. (Basically Hiram, right?)
According to a reveal by showrunner Tim Minear in Entertainment Weekly, Conseulos will play an Elon Musk/Jeff Bezos type of billionaire who gets swallowed by a whale. You read that correctly. He will be getting swallowed by a whale, which isn't too far fetched of an idea to execute for 911 these days. It also wouldn't be particularly outlandish for Riverdale. Even crazier, it's based on true events!
Mark Consuelos will be swallowed by a whale in 911 season 9
Minear revealed that Consuelos' billionaire character becoming lunch for a whale was inspired by a recent viral video. In the video, a man kayaking is seen being swallowed by a whale before ultimately being released by said whale. The event took place off the coast of Chile, but obviously, 911 takes place in Los Angeles, California, so the geography's a little off.
Not only will Consuelos be swallowed by a whale, but a "a much larger adventure will ensue" after the truly jaw-dropping whale disaster, per the showrunner. Obviously, the 118 will have quite the job ahead of them. Entertainment Weekly shared an exclusive photo of Ravi, Hen, and Chimney using binoculars to search into the ocean for the whale, but it can't be as easy as waiting for the whale to eject the billionaire, right? There's always an adventure with the 118!
Will one of the team members have to — gulp — look for the billionaire inside the whale themselves? That would be a real adventure in every sense of the word, and it's definitely one that hasn't been done on the show yet. Maybe we're thinking too big here, but when has 911 ever not gone big? No matter what, the upcoming whale adventure will be a season 9 highlight.
This won't be Consuelos' first appearance on television since his stint on Riverdale, as he's appeared in an episode of Hulu's How I Met Your Father and recurred in HBO Max's The Girls on the Bus. He also co-hosts Live with Kelly and Mark with wife Kelly Ripa. However, this will be the actor's first role back on broadcast television, and it's quite the role for a primetime comeback!
911 season 9 premieres on Thursday, Oct. 9 at 8/7c on ABC.