“It’s lovely to have an audience invested and for them to have theories and for them to care,” Stark said of the Buck and Eddie speculation while opening up about his character’s personal life this season.
The giant cruise liner Athena and Bobby are currently fighting for their lives on isn’t the only ship of interest to fans of 9-1-1.
Since the show’s second season, a number of viewers have clung to the hope of a romance — or shipped — Oliver Stark’s Buck and Ryan Guzman’s Eddie, so much so that they have their own nickname, “Buddie.” The online chatter intensified after the two actors made comments about their relationship on the red carpet at the show’s Season 7 premiere, before Buck was revealed to be single on the episode itself.
So, what do the cards hold for Stark’s character following the end of his romance with death doula Natalia? “I don’t think he’s running to find a new romantic partner. I don’t think he’s in any rush for that to happen,” he told TooFab.
“We saw at the end of Season 6, he was feeling pretty good and comfortable with his relationship with Natalia and it seemed like that was going somewhere positive, then cut to the beginning of Season 7 and it obviously didn’t pan out like that,” he continued. “I think there needs to be time where he just is and he can just be by himself, rather than jumping into things and deciding very quickly what they need to look like or should look like and letting things just wash over him and letting life happen as it does, rather than putting too much expectation on anything.”
“He’s not gonna rush into anything. Certainly, not in a conscious way,” Stark teased. “If it comes his way, I think he’s going to be open to things, but he’s not going to be the out there pursuing anything.”
After he and Guzman’s comments on the red carpet went viral — particularly Ryan saying there’s “something brand new for both of us, I can only say that much” — we wondered whether Stark sometimes finds himself being cautious about what he says, knowing how examined they will be by the fandom.
“There have certainly been times and seasons when I’ve wanted to be very conscious of that. I don’t think that actually is to anybody’s benefit,” he responded. “I think as people on this side of the production, we have to make the thing we want to make and people are free to interpret it how they want, right? That’s the point in making anything and I love that.”
“I spent 6 seasons reading different theories and I think it’s fantastic. It’s lovely to have an audience invested and for them to have theories and for them to care,” continued Stark, who said it’d be far worse to have people asking, “Which one is Buck? Who is Eddie?”
“I love that people care about these characters and they see different sides of them and I know, of course, some people see it romantically and some people see it platonically,” he added. “More than anything, I love that people see it and they care about it and they are more than welcome to theorize into eternity and I love that aspect of the show. Long may it continue in that sense.”
Stark said he hopes to never lead viewers “down the wrong path” by talking about the bond between the two characters, but also wants to “speak honestly and openly about my feelings about scenes and the way the characters are going.” He concluded, “I don’t want to tread too carefully, in the sense that I subdue anything that is true and honest. We love working together and it’s nice that people have those reactions to us.”
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While viewers will have to keep tuning in to see whether that bond goes to another level, one thing that will never change is the relationship between Buck and Eddie’s son, Christopher. Since the second season, Buck has become almost a coparent to the boy, who needed some dating advice in the premiere as he enters his teen years.
“Every time I see a picture of him from the early seasons — because when you see somebody regularly, you don’t notice it — but when I see a picture of him from Season 2 when he joined the show, I’m like, ‘Oh, he was a child child,’ and now he’s grown into a teenager,” he said of actor Gavin McHugh. “It makes you feel old very quickly.”
Oliver explained he didn’t foresee a time when that important bond “could ever go away.”
“I think Buck, he has this ability to really be honest with Christopher. There is a kind of co-parent element too it, but at the same time he’s also not his dad and sometimes we’re much more able to open up to people who aren’t our actual parents,” Stark explained.
“Buck kind of serves a purpose there where he can talk to Christopher that maybe, as a dad, you might struggle to talk to your child about. He’s going to continue to be there for him and I don’t forsee a time where that could ever go away,” he continued. “They’re so important in each other’s lives now, that I think they’re only gonna continue to grow together and I’m sure over the years or episodes or whatever it turns out to be, Buck will continue to have words of advice.”
“Whether they’re taken or appreciated is a different thing,” he added with a laugh. “Especially as he grows into more of a teenager, he’ll be like, ‘Shut up, you’re old, you don’t know!’ But he’ll be there to offer them when needed.”
New episodes of 9-1-1 air Thursdays on ABC.
