‘9-1-1’ Season 5: ‘Eddie Goes Off’ and ‘Cannot Contain His Pain’ in Front of Buck, Showrunner States

Fox’s 9-1-1 Season 5 spring premiere brings fan-favorite cast members, like Evan “Buck” Buckley and Eddie Diaz, back to the forefront. Buck and Eddie sustained a close friendship throughout the first half of season 5, and during the fall finale, Eddie announced he wanted to leave. Now, the showrunner’s previewing what’s to come — and it seems he “cannot contain his pain.”

Is Eddie Diaz leaving ‘9-1-1’?

At the end of the 9-1-1 fall finale, Eddie Diaz (played by Ryan Guzman) announced his departure from station 118. As a firefighter for the station, he sustained a number of life-threatening injuries and lived through terrifying situations. Unfortunately, his personal life and professional life started to clash. Eddie’s wife left him and their son, Christopher, leaving Eddie to parent the child. When his son expressed worry about Eddie’s occupation, Eddie had to rethink his life.

So, is Eddie Diaz leaving 9-1-1 for good? While he announced his departure from the 118, it doesn’t seem like Guzman’s leaving the show. Eddie and Buck have an incredibly close friendship, and there’s plenty to explore there moving forward. Eddie even told Buck that he put Buck down as Christopher’s guardian if anything were to happen to him on the job.

‘9-1-1’ Season 5 features Eddie Diaz going ‘off’ in front of Evan ‘Buck’ Buckley

With Eddie Diaz’s potential departure from station 118, a showrunner for 9-1-1 Season 5 teased what fans will see next. And it looks like Eddie’s going to break down in front of Buck.

TVGuide notes a new teaser for the 9-1-1 Season 5 spring premiere shows Eddie holding a baseball bat and crying while Buck remains by his side. And co-showrunner Kristen Reidel spoke more about that moment. “Eddie is very tightly wound and eventually he’s gonna go off,” Reidel noted. “And that’s the moment after Eddie goes off. That’s what it looks like after Eddie finally cannot contain his pain and trauma any longer.”

Reidel wrote the 9-1-1 Season 4 finale and the moment when Eddie tells Bucks he put Buck down as Christopher’s legal guardian in the event of death. She noted she doesn’t have any current plans to revisit that conversation at this time. But, “You can never say never,” she added.

“They went from two guys who didn’t really get along because Buck was super jealous of Eddie when he got there, and they have become family,” Reidel said. “And family doesn’t always look the way you think it’s going to.”

The rest of the season will continue to explore Eddie Diaz and Buck’s close relationship

Eddie Diaz and Buck’s relationship is beloved by fans, and we’ll certainly see more of it in the 9-1-1 Season 5 premiere. So, could Eddie and Buck’s friendship evolve into anything more?

“Yeah, it’s come up specifically and continuously,” showrunner Tim Minear told Observer. ” … But you can’t plan when actors have chemistry together, and I think that Ryan [Guzman] and Oliver [Stark] have a ton of chemistry together. Now, how you want to define that chemistry, I think, is its own kind of evolving thing, which is almost why I don’t want to define it because the show’s not over. So, I’m not even really sure how to answer that question.”

Minear then noted both Eddie and Buck have a “deep spiritual bond.” Whether that will turn romantic remains unknown.

9-1-1 Season 5 Episode 11 airs Monday, March 21, 2022, at 8 p.m. on Fox.

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