Deaths happen in TV shows all the time, but usually, those deaths start from the very beginning of the series. 911 changed things up considerably, where for seven-and-a-half, almost eight seasons, nobody major died despite their lives being put on the line in crazy situations.
That all changed with 911 season 8, episode 15. In a shocking turn of events, Bobby Nash was killed off after he used the only antiviral on Chimney to save his life. He didn’t even let anyone know that he was suffering from the killer virus, and there was no time to make a new antiviral. This is a death that makes no sense for the setup of the series, especially not this late on in the game.
One of the ridiculous elements of 911 was that the 118 could be put in life-threatening situations and find a way out. They always had someone watching their back, and there was always a third option so that they didn’t have to go with the two terrible ones. It was something showrunner Tim Minear talked about when defending the decision to kill Bobby in 911 season 8.
Minear explained that from around season 4, he knew that a major death had to happen. This “creative” choice was to make the series more realistic, which would have worked around the fourth or fifth season. Eventually, luck runs out, and as much as a major character death would have hurt, it would have made sense.
Doing it during the eighth season after the 118 have made it out of much more serious situations before made fans around the world angry for many good reasons. The creative choice fell flat.
Killing off Bobby Nash also doesn’t make sense
Minear also defended the death being Bobby rather than another member of the 118. He shared that Bobby had the most connections to other characters, but that simply isn’t all that true. When you start looking around at each of the characters, it’s arguably Buck or Hen who have the biggest connection to all other main characters in 911 — and I still stand by saying that both of them should have ended up being casualties in 911 season 8, episode 15 based on the setup of the virus and the location.
While Bobby was connected to the whole of the 118 and Athena, he didn’t have a direct connection to Maddie. Buck and Chimney have that, but so does Hen. Hen, Karen, Chimney, and Maddie all end up hanging out together a lot because they all have children, and Hen and Chimney are best friends at work.
Hen also has the bigger connection to Athena compared to Buck, since Hen and Athena were friends long before Bobby and Athena started a relationship. So, if someone who was connected to everyone at the firehouse had to go, arguably it should have been Hen. We all know that that couldn’t happen, though. After all, it would have lumped 911 into the “Bury Your Gays” trope, which the death of Buck would have also led to.
This does start to limit who the show could have killed off without controversy. So, really, the best thing would have been to keep 911 a series where nobody major dies. Killing Bobby Nash off didn’t make sense, and I fear the series will pay the price come 911 season 9.
911 season 9 will air on Thursdays at 8/7c on ABC in fall 2025.