Kenneth Choi, one of the founding stars of hit procedural drama 9-1-1, is breaking his silence about the shocking character death on the show’s latest episode.
Choi, 53, revealed that he was in tears when he finally watched the season eight episode Lab Rats, which aired late week.
‘I was sobbing,’ he said of watching the ‘devastating’ death, which he tried to talk showrunner Tim Minear out of, he told Entertainment Weekly.
Fans of 9-1-1 — which dealt with a real-life tragedy last year — were surprised when the conclusion of the two-part episode featured fellow founding star Peter Krause’s character Robert ‘Bobby’ Nash meeting an untimely death after he and Choi’s character, Howard ‘Chimney’ Han, staged a daring rescue.
The two were among a group of firefighters responding to a fire at a laboratory that has been incubating a particularly deadly version of the virus that causes the disease Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever.
Bobby made the ultimate sacrifice late in the episode when he helped Chimney escape the inferno — before locking himself in to prevent the virus from potentially infecting anyone else.
Kenneth Choi, one of the founding stars of hit procedural drama 9-1-1, is breaking his silence about the shocking character death on the show’s latest episode; seen in a publicity photo for the series
Choi, 53, revealed he was ‘sobbing’ when he watched the ‘devastating’ death, which he tried to talk showrunner Tim Minear out of, he told Entertainment Weekly; pictured with Peter Krause (center) and Oliver Stark (R)
Krause’s character gave the last remaining dose of an antiviral cure to Choi’s character, then opted to stay behind after realizing his time would soon be up, as he was already displaying symptoms of the mutated virus.
Choi admitted that the tears started flowing even before he saw the episode.
‘I mean, I f***ing filmed it and I was still sobbing uncontrollably with my friend for like three or four minutes,’ he said of Krause.
The sad scene took on a comic tone after he started laughing at himself for his ‘uncontrollable’ crying.
When Minear first told him that Krause’s character would die in the episode, Choi said he thought it was a joke at first.
‘There was this long period of silence and I said, “Are you serious?” And he said, “I’m serious, yeah,”‘ he recalled.
After going through the ‘stages of grief’ quickly, he tried to talk the showrunner out of killing off one of 9-1-1’s leads.
‘He explained creatively why he thought it was the right choice, and I fought him on it. And I continued to fight him on it,’ Choi said. ‘I fought him on it up until we kind of did the funeral stuff, because I was thinking, “Maybe they’ll pull it back. Maybe they’ll change their minds. Maybe they’ll reverse course.”‘
Fans of 9-1-1 were shocked when the conclusion of the two-part episode featured fellow star Peter Krause’s character Robert ‘Bobby’ Nash (pictured) meeting an untimely death after he and Choi’s character, Howard ‘Chimney’ Han, staged a daring rescue
Amid a fire that caused a deadly virus to escape a lab, Krause’s character gave Choi’s character the last dose of an antiviral and then sealed himself in to stop the virus from escaping after he began showing symptoms; Choi pictured in 2019 in LA
Choi admitted that the tears started flowing even before he saw the episode. ‘I mean, I f***ing filmed it and I was still sobbing uncontrollably with my friend for like three or four minutes,’ he said of Krause
He tried to talk showrunner Tim Minnear out of the death, but he wouldn’t budge. ‘I fought him on it up until we kind of did the funeral stuff, because I was thinking, “Maybe they’ll pull it back’
Next week’s episode promises a funeral and plenty of grief from the members of LAFD Station 118, including from fellow star Angela Bassett (L), who plays LAPD patrol sergeant Athena Grant-Nash, who was Bobby’s wife
Choi added that his character Chimney was also ‘devastated’ about losing his friend and colleague in the blaze.
‘It’s not just the loss of his captain. It’s not just the loss of a colleague. It’s not just the loss of a friend,’ he explained. ‘He has taken on the burden of incredible guilt because he knows that Bobby sacrificed himself to give Chimney the one dose of the vaccine.’
He said the LAFD member would ‘feel a multitude of emotions,’ and he worried that the other first responders on the series would ‘spiral’ for some time to come.
Choi also tried to get into the head of his costar Krause after his time on 9-1-1 came to an abrupt end.
‘I don’t think Peter imagined this ending right now. But I think, as it was presented to him, he understood creatively what it could do for everyone else,’ Choi opined.
However, he said the death made sense for Krause’s character, as he was a ‘captain’ who also served as a ‘father figure’ to other firefighters on the squad, so he would logically choose to sacrifice himself to help his colleagues.
Next week’s episode promises a funeral and plenty of grief from the members of LAFD Station 118, including from fellow star Angela Bassett, who plays LAPD patrol sergeant Athena Grant-Nash, who was married to the late Bobby.
