Note: This story contains spoilers from the “9-1-1” Season 6 finale.
Filming for the Season 6 finale of “9-1-1” pushed Oliver Stark to the limit, and that’s just how he likes it.
The first responder drama took a massive swing with its final episode at Fox, featuring a massive overpass collapse that put the lives of the entire crew of station 118 in danger. A mildly injured Buck (Stark) — who saw his own life hanging in the balance after being struck by lightning earlier this season — got to help rescue his teammates, including performing an elaborate stunt where he repelled back and forth to save people stuck in an ambulance hanging off the collapsed piece of highway.
“That was one long take!” Stark shared with TheWrap. “I was pretty bruised and battered and exhausted by the end of the day, but also felt very accomplished and it was a lot of fun [to shoot].”
“Those kinds of physical set pieces are the things where I really find myself thriving and being excited.”
Stark shared that her performed most of the episode’s elaborate stunts himself during filming, but praised the drama series’ stunt coordinators for keeping him safe and for stepping in on certain scenes — the sequence where Buck rescues Chimney (Kenneth Choi) was done by stunt performer Mike Ferragamo.
Despite the nerve-wracking incident, all of the members of the 118 made it out of the incident alive. But the action only picked up from there, as Buck also delivered his friends’ baby — whom he helped father by donating his sperm — on his living room couch. His new love interest Natalia (Annelise Cepero) appeared just in time to help him with the delivery, and the pair decided to kickstart a new romantic relationship by the end of the eventful hour.
The hour also wrapped up with Hen (Aisha Hinds) deciding to adopt another child with her wife (played by Tracie Thoms), Eddie (Ryan Guzman) starting a new relationship, Chimney and Maddie (Jeniffer Love Hewitt) beginning to plan for their upcoming nuptials, and Bobby (Peter Krause) and Athena (Angela Bassett) embarking on an impromptu cruise honeymoon.
The Season 6 finale marks the end of an era for “9-1-1.” The show is set to move to ABC for its seventh season, which will see the series reach 100 episodes.
Stark said the move to ABC likely won’t lead to much of a difference in how the show is produced or how it looks on screen. But he is looking forward to the potential of a larger audience tuning in to the show, and said he’s ready for whatever hurdles come for Buck in the coming episodes.
“I want to see Buck in pain. I want to see more trauma. I want to see him being put through it. I want to see him circling the drain of death again,” Stark said. “That’s the fun stuff.”
All episodes of “9-1-1” are available to stream on Hulu.
