The 118 is about to slide back into the dark days. When 9-1-1 Season 8 premieres, there will be changes in the firehouse with Captain Vincent Gerrard (Brian Thompson) at the helm. He returns to take over the captaincy duties that Bobby (Peter Krause) had left to pursue retirement after his recent brush with death and the past. Gerrard is awful and that’s not a secret. Showrunner Tim Minear told Entertainment Weekly that even if the character is awful, “he’s an awfully fun character to have in the mix.” He does bigotry like no one else. New images (courtesy of Entertainment Weekly) tease the beginning of Gerrard’s reign over the firehouse while rebellion brews from an unlikely source.
The first image finds the team in the middle of the bee emergency that will open the season. The three-part emergency is based on the 1978 film The Swarm. In 9-1-1’s take, forty-four million killer bees escape while in transit, and they take over the Los Angeles skies. It takes 500 bee stings to kill one person, putting at least 44,000 people at risk. The image features Chimney, Hen, Gerrard, and Eddie in bee nets to prevent being stung as they go about saving people. They wear varying looks on their faces as they look at something off the shot.
Buck Struggles with Gerrard’s Tenure In ‘9-1-1’ Season 8
The second image previews the new 118 under Gerrard. Discipline is paramount as the firefighters line up while he inspects them. He is standing next to Buck (Oliver Stark) with his finger pointing to something off the shot. However, the look on Buck’s face tells another story. He looks like he’d rather be in the middle of the Bee-Nado than there. “. . . it’s harder for Buck than the rest,” said Minear. He added the reasons why, saying:
“Eddie was in the military, and both Hen and Chimney already served under this guy — they’ve been vaccinated, in a way. They know how to not let him get to them. Bobby is the only captain Buck has ever served under. Bobby really is his surrogate dad, so it’s just a lot harder for Buck.”
Being in the military, Eddie is used to hierarchy and discipline, so this is summer camp for him. In the “. . . Begins” episodes for Hen and Chimney, Gerrard was the captain, so they know how to handle his antics. However, Buck is at a great disadvantage since he’s only known Bobby’s leadership, and he also has a wildness in him that only Bobby knows how to tame.
9-1-1 Season 8 premieres on Thursday, September 26 on ABC. Catch up with past seasons on Hulu.
