Spoilers for past episodes of 9-1-1. Krause’s character’s death has been in headlines for weeks
A few weeks ago, 9-1-1 staple Peter Krause’s lead character, Capt. Bobby Nash, was killed off the ABC procedural in its eighth season. It was a baffling executive decision by showrunner Tim Minear, who said in an interview that he did it because he wanted to shake things up, essentially. Bobby and his wife Athena, played by Angela Bassett, were the heart of the show and fans were both outraged and heartbroken by his death. We know that Bassett didn’t want to stop working with Krause because she’s praised him in so many interviews as a coworker and has said she can’t imagine the show without him. In a new interview with People Magazine at the Met Gala, Bassett apologized to fans and said that Bobby’s death wasn’t her decision. Of course it wasn’t!
Weeks after Peter Krause’s beloved 9-1-1 character sacrificed himself in the April 17 episode, Bassett, 66, says she is still in shock. Speaking with PEOPLE at the 2025 Met Gala on Monday, May 5, the actress, who plays Sgt. Athena Grant-Nash and Bobby’s wife on the show, hasn’t fully accepted the loss.
“I’m in mourning,” she admits. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. It wasn’t my choice. I don’t know.”
She then offers an encouraging message to fans: “Keep hope alive. Maybe he’ll return in my dreams, you know, my memories…”
Bassett and Krause have played Athena and Bobby, who wed in season 2, since the premiere of the procedural in 2018. When they first learned of his devastating fate, which Bassett called “inconceivable,” she said they “just looked at each other.”
“You know when your eyes just lock and you don’t know what to say? And you just bear hug each other and then you just shake your head,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “And bless his heart — he had to comfort all of us. He truly had to comfort all of us while he’s going through his own processing in the moment.”
She later took to Instagram to pay tribute to Krause…
It’s possible the showrunners wanted to save money by killing Krause, but it’s just going to cost them in the long run. I checked the ratings for this show and there was barely a boost for Bobby’s funeral episode, which aired on May 1 and received 4.8 million viewers. The first three episodes this season received more viewers than that (a three-parter which ended when Athena landed a passenger jet on the freeway) as did a random episode on March 27 when Maddie lost her voice after recovering from having her throat cut and Eddie moved to Texas and became a rideshare driver. It’s clear that the audience wants to see the three part disaster episodes and that we enjoy the daily lives of these characters. This was a poor decision by Minear that didn’t even pay off with a momentary boost in ratings.
Angela Bassett is starring in a long running series that should be so grateful to have her but doesn’t respect her or the audience enough to keep her beloved on-screen husband alive. 9-1-1 has been renewed for season 9. I couldn’t find out much about Bassett’s contract other than her salary, which was $450,000 an episode in 2021 and made her the highest paid woman of color on television. I hope that Bassett leaves 9-1-1 as soon as she can and gets some incredible new opportunities. I also hope that season 9 is 9-1-1’s last. Maybe that’s what the showrunners wanted all along.
Photos credit: Janet Mayer/INSTARimages.com, Darla Khazei/INSTARimages, Getty and via Instagram
I would take a back from the dead government conspiracy storyline at the start of the next season. Just saying. Otherwise, meh. I just don’t wana watch it anymore. It’s a massive let-down. But yeah I wish AB all the best.
This show has the wildest storylines, they should write the wildest one yet to bring Bobby back.
Right? Trying to manifest it. Bc otherwise what a fumble.
Good grief the wording of that headline made me think Peter Krause has died!
I know shocking tv / movie deaths are a thing but I feel like it’s not necessary and honestly borderline cruel to the fans depending on the show and the character. Like certain shows, you just assume certain people are going to be safe, like Olivia Benson on SVU – safe from death that is. Certain shows you absolutely assume no one is safe, like Game of Thrones. They made that clear from the get go, and people knew it. That’s why I didn’t watch it. Other people watched it for that very reason. On shows like Grey’s Anatomy, because of the dramatics, no one was safe from being killed off. Anyway, back to 911, his character was so fundamental to the show. If there were behind the scenes issues and that is why he was essentially fired, they could have written him out differently. Not saying that was the case at all! But if this was just for shock value, it was a bad decision. Now the remainder of the show, however long that will be, is going to be about his death and they could have come up with a more creative and less painful to the fans way to make a new storyline. Lazy writing I think.
I think this was Tim Minear and TPTB going for shock value. And also copying the iconic Six Feet Under, where Krause’s character, one of the main characters was killed off (again not Krause’s choice) and continued to pop up as “ghost Nate” in the rest of the season. The whole ghost Bobby visiting Athena scene to make her aware of some truths, help her process, seemed really derivative of scenes from SFU. (Not really ghosts, but conversations imagined by survivors). And that some showrunners don’t know how to write interesting “solid couple” storylines and think they need a death or affair for “drama”
That’s my “best, most generous” take, that Minear was lady, lacked creativity, original thought.
My worst take is they were getting noise from some faction about depicting a stable, loved up interracial couple and decided to bow to pressure and get rid of it. (Or had someone from Sleepy Hollow’s PTB in their management chain, but didn’t dare Nicole Beharie Angela Bassett)
“My worst take is they were getting noise from some faction about depicting a stable, loved up interracial couple and decided to bow to pressure and get rid of it.”
Yep—same here.
If they had to kill someone off, Jennifer Love Hewitt was RIGHT THERE.
Yeah, her character is pretty useless. Her main character trait is crying every episode.
My husband and I have watched 911 for years because it’s ridiculous and fun. All the storylines where a character ALMOST dies and then pull through – it’s campy, but that’s why so many people like it. You know you’re in for an hour of ‘check out of real life’ television.
Killing off Bobby just felt wrong. Not only because he’s one of the most fleshed out and well written characters that everyone loves, but also because that is not supposed to happen in this show. They always pull through! If they really wanted to kill someone off just to shake things up, they could have chosen pretty much any other character to do it with and avoided pissing off the fans to this degree.