Following an emotional ending to Series 8 of 9-1-1Season 8 of 9-1-1 has wrapped, and a 9th has already been confirmed. You have been a part of this show since the very beginning. What keeps you coming back for more?
I think because of the amount of fun that we have while making it. And don’t get me wrong, obviously, it’s nice to be a part of something that is also successful. That obviously backs it up in a large way. But, really, at its core, the whole crew has really become a family over the years, and we do laugh so much. We get to do these really cool things that the audience enjoys, you know? So it kind of hits on every level in that sense. We have a great time making it, and people really resonate with the stuff that we are making. And I’m sure there’s some crossover between those two things as to why that is.
What do you think is the secret to the show being so successful? It feels as if this show could go on for another 10 seasons, if it wanted to.
I do think that because we have fun making it, that translates onto the screen. And then, as an audience member, you have fun watching it. You wanna be with these people. You wanna sit with them in the back of the fire truck. You wanna have dinner with them in the firehouse. But then I think the other side of it is that the show conflicts between genres so quickly and easily. It can have you laughing in one moment, crying the next, and then anticipating what’s next. I think the fact that it does that multiple times in an episode means that there’s always something in the episode for everyone. You wanna watch a comedy, there’s something in a 9-1-1 episode that will make you laugh. If you wanna cry, there’s a sad moment too. That’s what has seemed to keep people coming back over the years.
I like that no episode is the same, and that the show doesn’t drag anything out for too long.
Yeah. If I think all the way back to the pilot episode, it was so fast-paced. And I remember myself with the rest of my cast saying that to each other after we watched the pilot. It really moved. It’s because, when you’re making it, you don’t know how they’ll end up editing it. That was also the first episode, so we had no point of reference. I remember after we watched it for the first time saying that it really powers through the moments, and it just keeps going and keeps going. I think that’s something, especially in an age of maybe influencer attention spans, that really appeals and matters.
The show has a lot of dedicated fans. Do you ever read fan theories? And how often are they correct?
I try my best not to read into them. I don’t think it’s particularly helpful or healthy to do so, but it is also inevitable. You know, the algorithm serves us up with what it chooses to serve us with, and then sometimes it’s hard to look away. I’ve definitely seen things that have truth in them, but then I’ve also seen plenty of things that are completely from thin air. But, if I do end up reading those, I enjoy those [theories] just as much because they’re super creative and do sometimes deep dive into the show in a way that I hadn’t even necessarily thought of.
If your character, Buck, could trade jobs or roles with another character, who do you think he would choose? And how do you think that would go?
I will give you two answers, because the first is a total cop-out out because I don’t think he would trade with anybody, because I truly think this is what he loves to do. However, if I had to choose, I think it would have to be with Angela [Bassett’s] character Athena. There was a time when he almost had to sit in the call center, and he didn’t do well with the prospect of that. So I think he’d still wanna be out there in the field doing things. We’ve kind of tiptoed into thinking he’s a low-grade detective at some point during the show. So I think him getting to live out his crime podcast fantasies might be the next route that he would go down.
Buck would have loved to have had the responsibility to land that plane during the last series.
Absolutely. He’s always into the most chaotic situations possible, running headfirst.
Talking of Angela, while the whole cast is amazing, what has it been like working alongside such a huge icon in the acting world? Is there anything in particular you’ve learned from her?
You know, I always think of her as an actor rather than a movie star or a celebrity. She is a professional first and foremost. If anybody I was gonna give grace to, that they wanted to come a little bit or not work some of the crazy hours that we work, it would, of course, be her. But she’s just always up for anything. She’s worked the late late nights with us, the Saturdays, the Sundays, and you never hear any complaints out of her mouth. I always just think she’s such a professional, and she clearly loves the work aspect of it. She’s not taken herself up to just be a famous person now. She is, at her core, an actor, and I just love to watch that. I was somewhat intimidated eight years ago, stepping onto a set with her for the first time, and it’s been really nice to just get to know her and see that that was never necessary. She’s just really refreshing to be around. She doesn’t take herself too seriously, and it’s a joy to get to see somebody of that level of legendary status be so committed to the work.
You were born and raised in London, but decided to move to Los Angeles for a couple of reasons, one being to pursue your acting career further. Did that take a lot of adjusting?
It didn’t feel that difficult. I had been here a few times, so I knew the city relatively well. And I just don’t think I had any deep ties to London outside of the people, like family and friends. At the time, I loved the city, so I think I was quite excited about the chance to go somewhere new and discover a new life, and see what that would start to look like. It’s actually not until more recently that I find myself thinking of London more fondly and missing that side of my life. I always call LA home and London home-home. That to me is a distinction of meaning in my head.
How often do you come back and visit the UK?
Everybody on the family side is back there. I would say once a year at most, but sometimes I’ll try and get my parents to come and visit me here, so I’ll get to see them twice a year, which is always nice to be able to host them. While we’re making 9-1-1, we do shoot eight, nine months out of the year, so I usually try and come back for the Christmas period and then a summer if it feels possible.
What is something you miss the most about the UK?
This is a very specific to LA thing because you can find it in other places in the US, but I really miss walking and being on public transport. I find LA to be quite isolating. You drive everywhere. I don’t know if you’ve spent much time here at all, but everybody drives. It’s mad to walk anywhere. I miss just walking and being around strangers and rubbing shoulders with people in different industries, and you’re sitting on a tube next to somebody, and you don’t know anything about them. There’s just a feeling of life that I think is achieved through being around people. That’s something I really miss about London and just walking around. This is a little bit cliché to anybody who actually lives there, but I miss cobbled streets. There is so much history, culture, and people, whereas I find that my life over here is often spent, as I am talking to you right now, in my car.
While building your resume, one of your first TV roles took place in the UK when you starred in an episode of Casualty. What did you take away from that early experience?
I loved doing Casualty. I remember feeling very welcomed by the regular cast. And as you say, it was my first TV job. I was really excited, but I was also really nervous. And I remember them being really, really welcoming, and that settled me down. And that’s certainly something that I have taken into the way that I behave on the set of 9-1-1 and treat people when they come onto the show. The more welcoming of an environment you can create, not that this is the only reason to do it, but the better work people are gonna get because they are more relaxed. I have really fond memories of not feeling like I was an outsider or a guest on the set. It felt like, ‘We are here to do this thing all about us together.’
People know you for 9-1-1 now, but you have explored other roles. Are there any genres you would love to explore next or revisit?
I really find myself thriving in the action-dominated stuff we do on 9-1-1. I think in another life, I would have liked to believe I could have been some kind of athlete, probably naively so. Being able to do a lot of stunt-heavy stuff on 9-1-1, it almost makes me feel like I’m living the best of both worlds. I would love to continue to do more stuff that involves stunt work. But then at the same time, I would also love to do stuff that is the complete opposite of that. Things that are really small, really intimate, really character-driven, which isn’t necessarily a genre, but just a different style. 9-1-1 is very big and loud. There’s never a moment to do something small and quiet.
Was acting always the plan for you?
Honestly, I didn’t really consider acting as a viable career option until I was maybe 19 or 20. Before that, it was a thing that I had done at school, but it wasn’t ever something I thought was gonna be my career. Originally, I was gonna go off to university and study economics. I was kind of thinking I would be some kind of entrepreneur or business owner. I had different ideas about different construction businesses I wanted to run and things like that. And then I just thought to myself, I’m good at this side of academic study, but it’s not what I love. It’s not what I enjoy. And why not try this thing that actually appeals to me more first? Luckily, I was given a lot of support by my parents when they told me to go for it. They told me that if all else fails, you do have a roof here, which not everybody has that kind of support. So I’m definitely appreciative of that.
Now that you’re over 10 years into your acting career, what does success mean to you now, and how has that changed over the years?
Yeah. I think when I was young, starting out, I wanted to be famous. I think that was a glamorous idea to me. Whereas now, I’m much more interested in good work and choice. To me, success is being able to have the freedom to make choices. Like, yes, I want to do this. No, I don’t wanna do that project. And that can be for a multitude of different reasons, but success is having enough security where I can be choosy in the decisions I make day to day.
When you’re not working, what do you like to do in your spare time?
I like to disappear a little bit. I like to be outside. I like to be out in nature, I have three large dogs. I like to get away from the city and find some solitude and peace. I use that time to find a bit more stability and routine in my life because the 9-1-1 schedule is all over the place. If I haven’t escaped, and I am at home, it’s about finding a routine. This is the time that I wake up, this is the time that I have breakfast, this is the time that I go to the gym, which may sound boring, but it’s only for a couple of months of the year that I get to build some kind of stable routine. It’s a helpful and meaningful time.
Is it easy to have quiet time when you’re not working?
Yeah. I live outside the city. I actually do live up on a mountain away from most people. Not because I don’t like people, but just because I enjoy the escape of being able to get in when I need to and being able to stay up when I want to. It’s sometimes difficult when I have to get into the city for early morning calls, but it was a trade-off that was worth it to me to pull myself a little bit out of civilisation, but close enough that it’s there whenever I need it.
In an interview from 2017, you opened up about having impostor syndrome, where when you were in a room with other actors, you questioned if you deserved to be there. Many years later, have you overcome this?
I think most creative people in creative fields have that to some degree. Right? And I don’t know if it’s, certainly, for myself, something that ever completely goes away, but I’ve definitely got better at mitigating it and understanding what it is and understanding that because I feel something doesn’t mean it’s true. I can quiet that voice much easier now because I’ve built up some years of experience. I’ve been on this television show for eight years, working day in, day out. Like, there is a lot of experience that has, even on a subconscious level, entered into me there. So I’m much better at keeping that voice. It’s always gonna be there, but, you know, that doesn’t mean you have to listen to it, or that doesn’t mean you have to let it affect your decisions or the way that you approach things. I think there’s a vulnerability that is actually quite helpful that comes from it, but not letting it sit in the driver’s seat.
9-1-1 will return to our screens soon. What can you tell us about the upcoming season? Have you started filming yet?
We’ll start shooting Season 9 in about a month. I have read nothing yet. It’s gonna be interesting in the sense that at the end of Season 8, we lost Peter Krause’s character, [Bobby]. I think Season 9 is gonna be about rebuilding and growing from that, seeing how it’s possible to grow from that, and restructuring of the 118, which is the firehouse in the show, and seeing how everybody can kinda come together and try and move forward.
How would you like to see your character evolve?
Bobby was so instrumental to who Buck was on the show, and I really wanna see him carry that proudly and feel like he’s doing justice to all the things that he learned through Captain Nash. I want him to carry the banner and help the younger firefighters around him. We have a couple on the show, and so to almost step into that mentor role that Bobby was for Buck, I think it’s time for him to maybe start doing that for some others.
