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9-1-1 is returning for Season 8 in the fall, and with our favorite first responders coming back, one of the most pressing questions in the minds of fans involves Evan “Buck” Buckley and the progression of the storyline regarding his sexuality the show introduced in Season 7. But what does that mean for the character of Tommy, who Buck is dating in Season 7? Can we expect to see him in 9-1-1 Season 8?
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The answer is most likely yes. There’s been no indication that Lou Ferrigno Jr. has been on set, but there’s also no reason to believe he and Buck, who were doing just fine relationship-wise at the end of Season 7, would break up off-screen.
But that doesn’t exactly mean the relationship is meant to last. Showrunner Tim Minear did call their relationship “sort of the entry-level relationship” in an interview with The Wrap last year, noting at the time that he didn’t think “anybody’s making wedding plans.”
“It really is a first fling for Buck right now. What that might amount to, only time can tell. But what I’m interested in is not something that’s fraught. I’m interested in something that’s tender and positive,” Minear said back then.
Of course, things have advanced some for the couple since then. But they haven’t advanced all that much, and Ferrigno Jr.’s screentime hasn’t been substantially larger than Buck’s other love interests in the past. If anything, he’s had substantially less screen time than the notorious Taylor Kelly did even in her first few episodes, and we all know how that ended up.
There’s also the big Eddie-shaped elephant in the room, with Lou Ferrigno Jr., who plays Tommy telling THR in an interview last year about the moment between Buck and Tommy in 9-1-1 Season 7, Episode 4 “Buck, Bothered and Bewildered”: “It was originally, possibly going to be with Eddie and Tommy, but that fell through.”
More: Meet the 9-1-1 cast’s children and families in real life
It’s a revelation that opens up an interesting possibility for Ryan Guzman’s Eddie Diaz in Season 8 if the show is still interested in exploring that arc for him. Fans, of course, have been shipping Buck and Eddie since Season 2. If the show wanted to go there with them, Tommy and Buck would likely have to break up first.
For now, though, it is Tommy and Buck and Ferrigno Jr. is likely to be back as Tommy Kinard in pretty much the same role he was in Season 7 – sporadically. Ferrigno Jr. was brought in as a guest star in Season 7, and there’s been no indication his status has changed going into Season 8.
How much that lasts, remains to be seen. 9-1-1 is an ensemble show with a pretty big cast of regulars which includes Angela Bassett (Athena Grant), Peter Krause (Bobby Nash), Oliver Stark (Evan “Buck” Buckley), Alisha Hinds (Henrietta “Hen” Wilson), Kenneth Choi (Howard “Chimney” Han), Jennifer Love Hewitt (Maddie Buckley), Ryan Guzman (Edmundo “Eddie” Diaz) and Gavin McHugh (Christopher Diaz). That leaves precious little screentime for sporadic guest star appearances unless some big milestone is happening, or someone is breaking up.
That might not be Tommy’s fate. He might end up outlasting Taylor Kelly and building something real and permanent with Buck. But the odds are not truly in his favor. He’s been little more than a plot device in Buck’s journey, as most love interests for both Buck and Eddie have been so far in 9-1-1, and unless something extraordinary happens, he is likely to leave the way all other love interests have: unceremoniously, and without most fans even batting an eye. There are likely bigger things ahead for Buck, and maybe even for Buck and Eddie.
9-1-1 is available to stream on Hulu.