9-1-1 Season 9: The Truth About Bobby's Fate That Has Fans Furious

9-1-1 is barreling toward Season 9 on October 9, 2025, and the only thing anyone is talking about is Bobby. Did he actually die in that lab episode, or is TV about to TV and find a way around it? Short answer: the show says he is gone. Fans are not over it. And the people making the show know exactly how mad you are.

Why Bobby mattered so much

Peter Krause has been a core piece of 9-1-1 since day one, playing Bobby Nash, the captain of LAFD Station 118. He took a struggling house and rebuilt its reputation, became a steady, no-nonsense leader, and basically ended up as a surrogate dad to Evan 'Buck' Buckley (Oliver Stark). Off the clock, Bobby married Athena Grant-Nash (Angela Bassett) and stepped in as a loving presence for her kids, Harry (Marcanthonee Reis) and May (Corinne Massiah).

The guy earned that peace. Before Los Angeles, Bobby was a firefighter in Minnesota, where a leaky propane heater exploded and burned down his life. He lost his wife and two children in that disaster, blamed himself for it, and carried the weight of an additional 145 lives lost. Station 118 and his bond with Athena pulled him out of the wreckage, piece by piece.

What actually happened in Season 8

Season 8, Episode 15, 'Lab Rats,' was the gut punch. Responding to an emergency at a biological lab, Bobby went in to save Chimney (Kenneth Choi) after an explosion. The blast compromised Bobby's suit, exposing him to a viral agent. He hid the damage so he could give Chim the last dose of antidote with minutes to spare. It was a very Bobby move, and it cost him his life. He became the first main character the show has ever killed off.

Fans did not take it well. 'Lab Rats' cratered on IMDb with a 4.0, and the follow-up episode, 'The Last Arm' (which used Bobby in flashbacks), sank even lower with a 3.8. Season 8 also delivered the show’s worst-rated season finale ever at 4.8; the previous low for a finale was 7.3. Inside baseball, sure, but those numbers show how hard the audience rejected this choice.

The memorial vs. the resurrection

There is already a loud fan campaign begging the show to bring Bobby back in any form possible. Entertainment Weekly’s Instagram says Season 9 will include an honorary plaque for him at the station. Showrunner Tim Minear has been pretty firm about the creative call.

'It just felt fitting and right. There’s a balance you have to strike. You don’t want to come in and feel like everything is just going to be sad from here on out, but Bobby’s memory should be blessed. And this is a thing that fire departments do in real life. They will name a fire station after a fallen hero. I think the idea that this will always be Bobby’s house is kind of beautiful, and not depressing.'

Translation: Season 9 is about how the 118 moves forward while keeping Bobby’s legacy front and center. Expect the show to lean into the real-world tradition of honoring fallen firefighters, which is the kind of grounded detail 9-1-1 likes to emulate.

Could Bobby still show up?

Here’s the messy part. Some viewers are hanging onto the fact that the show didn’t show Bobby’s body on screen and are calling TV rulebook shenanigans. Minear says that’s not the plan. Peter Krause already reappeared in 'The Last Arm' via flashbacks, but given how badly that episode was received, the show is in a tricky spot. Best guess: if Bobby turns up again, it is through selective flashbacks or memories, not a full-on reversal.

To complicate Athena’s grief, she had Bobby buried next to his first wife and kids in Minnesota. That makes visiting his grave a lot harder for her and her children, which the show will likely sit with as it tracks her loss.

What Angela Bassett is hearing (and feeling)

Bassett has said Season 9 will hit Athena hardest, and she plans to honor Bobby on screen, but she is not promising anything supernatural or soap-y.

'I have to keep his memory alive in some way. I’m making no promises. I’m wondering just like you, just like the fans.'

Also, her family is on your side. Speaking to USA Today, Bassett said her sister still has not forgiven the show for the death and keeps asking the same question months later:

'She is mad... It dont make sense ... Is he coming back?'

So yes, the pressure is real. But as of now, the creative stance is that Bobby is gone and Season 9 is about the aftermath, not a reversal.

The essentials

• Season 9 premiere: Thursday, October 9, 2025 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC
• Streaming: Hulu and Disney+
• Showrunner: Tim Minear
• Original premiere: January 3, 2018
• Networks: FOX (past), ABC (current)
• Rating and genres: TV-14; drama, crime, action
• Key players: Peter Krause (Bobby Nash), Angela Bassett (Athena Grant-Nash), Kenneth Choi (Howard 'Chimney' Han), Oliver Stark (Evan 'Buck' Buckley), Marcanthonee Reis (Harry), Corinne Massiah (May)
• In-show honors: Expect a memorial plaque for Bobby at Station 118, and the station positioned as 'Bobby’s house' going forward
• Fandom reality check: Bobby is the show’s first main-character death; 'Lab Rats' (4.0) and 'The Last Arm' (3.8) are the lowest-rated episodes on IMDb; Season 8’s finale (4.8) is the series’ lowest-rated finale