“That’s not what this show is”: 9-1-1 showrunner says that the series will focus on the Buddie storyline but not like Heated Rivalry

9-1-1 Season 9 premiered on ABC in October 2025, and aired six episodes till November 13, 2025, after which it went on a mid-season break. The show will now return on air on January 8, 2026, and fans are curious now more than ever if there's going to be a Buddie storyline.

Some fans of the show ship Evan "Buck" Buckley and Edmundo "Eddie" Díaz together, believing that they might be more than just friends because of the chemistry and deep friendship the characters share. Ahead of the premiere of 9-1-1 Season 9 episode 7, showrunner Tim Minear has said that the Buddie storyline will be focused upon, but not like Heated Rivalry.

9-1-1 showrunner on how Buddie is different than Heated Rivalry

Buck, a firefighter, and Eddie, a firefighter and paramedic, are co-workers who work at the LAFD Station 118 and are best friends. In Season 7, Buck came out as bise*ual, and as his friendship with Eddie developed, some fans started to speculate that they might have feelings for each other, and hoped for them to be paired up as a couple. But Eddie has been portrayed as straight till now, and while Buck is very overprotective about him, there hasn't been any romantic interest towards Buck from Eddie.

But the Buddie fandom really does want the two characters to explore some kind of romance, as their deep friendship could lead to one. Tim Minear, showrunner of 9-1-1, spoke about the Buddie storyline with The Washington Post, saying,

“It’s a very difficult subject because I love the Buddie fans, and I am one of them. It’s different than ‘Heated Rivalry’, where that is the show — the show is about two guys getting together. That’s not what this show is. This will probably piss off people, but whatever, this is what I think. I think the possibility of [Buddie] is what’s exciting.”

Thus, Minear has clearly mentioned that the dynamic between Buck and Eddie will not be like the one between Shane and Ilya in Heated Rivalry. In Heated Rivalry, the main characters fall in love, and the show is focused on their love story and how it evolves through the years. But no matter how much Minear loves the Buddie fandom and wouldn't mind Buck and Eddie getting together, his statement confirms that since 9-1-1 isn't a show just about romantic love, the Buddie storyline won't be like the one in Heated Rivalry.

He, however, did not say that the possibility of Buddie actually happening is completely out of the question. While we might not see a passionate love story evolve between Buck and Eddie, Minear did say that the idea of some kind of romance between them is exciting. Thus, we might not see a full-fledged romance between the two characters, but Minear hasn't confirmed that nothing slightly romantic or se*ual won't happen between them ever. This is a never-say-never situation, which might keep fans still hopeful about a Buddie storyline.

9-1-1 Season 9 will return on ABC from January 8, 2026.

For more articles like this, follow Soapcentral.

Comment

Edited by Sroban Ghosh