Spoilers ahead for the March 20 episode of 9-1-1 Season 6, called "Recovery."
9-1-1 hit the ground running in the 2023 TV premiere schedule with its long-awaited return earlier this month. After the latest near-death experience for Buck (which is continuing to affect him even as Season 6 moves on), the focus shifted back to Bobby and his mission to prove that Wendell had been murdered and needed justice. "Recovery" revealed more of their backstory via some important flashbacks, and gave Bobby the evidence needed to close the case on Wendell's death. Actor Peter Krause, who has played Bobby from the beginning, spoke about his character's future and playing the on-set "dad" to co-star Angela Bassett's "mom."
Bobby has had more to do than just fight fires and lead the heroes of the 118 ever since he started digging into what happened to Wendell, and Season 6 has proven that 9-1-1 definitely isn't out of plots to twist for him. Luckily, he and Athena have been solid together despite conflict that might have been brewing a couple seasons ago; according to Peter Krause, he and Angela Bassett have been solid for the rest of the cast behind-the-scenes as well. Speaking with TVLine about "Recovery," Krause opened up about Bobby's future as a firefighter vs. the idea of retiring, saying:
I think he’d like to [stay]. That’s his family, and I think he would like to remain there as their father figure. I think I can speak for both Angela and I when I say that it’s been fun for both of us to be mom and dad on this show. It really is a terrific bunch. This is a difficult show to make, and without everyone working together, it would be really, really hard. We all have each other’s back behind the scenes.
Angela Bassett (who was recently a favorite to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever before the trophy went to Jamie Lee Curtis) as Athena and Peter Krause as Bobby have been the anchors of the show. Apparently, the actors have fun being the "mom and dad" for the cast as they all have each other's backs on what is clearly a complicated show to make.
Plus, just as Bobby and Athena have experience and authority that other characters don't, Peter Krause and Angela Bassett came to 9-1-1 with a lot of acting credits. Krause came to the show with extensive TV experience thanks to Six Feet Under and Parenthood, and Bassett has stints on ER and American Horror Story to go with her many films. Krause went on to describe how he and Bassett work together as the mom and dad of the cast:
Yeah, behind the scenes I would say that Angela and I are both like-minded in that we both want to set a good tone on set. We have a good worth ethic. I hope that that’s appreciated, because we try to keep a happy, smooth-running set as much as possible. It’s a very ambitious and difficult show to make.
For all the challenges of making the show, Peter Krause, Angela Bassett, and the rest of the cast have helped make 9-1-1 not only into a huge hit for Fox on its own, but solid enough that 9-1-1: Lone Star was all but guaranteed to be a hit as well. The drama hasn't been officially renewed for Season 7 just yet for fans to be able to count on more of Bobby and Athena in the 2023-2024 TV schedule.
That said, it's not a bad sign that 9-1-1 hasn't been renewed yet. That's the case for multiple Fox shows, including The Resident (which wrapped Season 6 in January) and Alert: Missing Persons Unit (which aired its first season finale in February). Neither has been renewed or cancelled yet, so there's no reason to worry about why Fox hasn't delivered any updates for 9-1-1's future just yet, especially with Season 6 still going.
For now, you can find new episodes of 9-1-1 on Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. If you've missed any episodes of Season 6, or just want to revisit earlier seasons of Bobby and Athena, you can find the show streaming with a Hulu subscription.
