9-1-1 Almost Gave Peter Krause's Bobby Nash A Much Darker Exit

If you're friendly with a fan of the network television procedural "9-1-1," give them a little extra space this week. The series — created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Tim Minear — just slammed a couple of torpedoes into the hearts of its viewers by unexpectedly killing off Peter Krause's LAFD Captain Bobby Nash at the end of the season 8 episode "Lab Rats." Nash, along with his wife Athena Grant-Nash (Angela Bassett), has been the series' emotional ballast. He's the steadying influence who keeps the young bucks from faltering in their duty (as much as possible). Also, because it's Krause, a television favorite due to his memorable roles on "Six Feet Under," "Sports Night," and "Parenthood," the shock is particularly profound. How does the show, this hidebound to narrative convention (in a necessary way), go on without its dramatic security blanket?

This question will be addressed over the next two episodes (the season finale airs on May 8, but it won't be truly answered until further down the line. There's no reason to believe this show can't work without Krause's Nash, but this is still a helluva thing to spring on a viewership this deep into the run of a show where main cast members have survived numerous gnarly situations. It took a highly contagious, Ebola-type disease weaponized in a lab to take out Bobby, and it wasn't pretty. He was coughing up blood as he bid farewell to Athena, which, while noble and beautiful, reminded us that his internal organs were rapidly liquifying. On the plus side, Nash's demise was swift, and the show left fans with a final shot that movingly underscored his heroism.

And they should be grateful for that shot because, initially, the episode was supposed to end with a decidedly more brutal image.

In an interview with TV Insider, "9-1-1" showrunner Tim Minear – who, having written for geek faves like "The X-Files," "Angel" and "Firefly," knows from triggering fan outrage – was asked if the "Lab Rats" episode was always supposed to end on that shot of Nash's LAFD helmet. His answer might surprise you.

According to Minear, "Initially, it was just going to be the body bag."

Yikes. Just Bobby zipped up in plastic like Joe Gideon in "All That Jazz." That would've been a roundhouse kick to the temple of anyone who's been invested in "9-1-1" since its 2018 premiere. The interviewer responded with a terse "Oof," to which Minear replied:

"And I know, exactly, the reaction that you're having is the reaction that I was going for. People did not seem to like that, which is why I knew it was probably right. But when we were editing the episode, we found that shot [of the helmet], and I'm just like, 'Put it at the end.'"

So consider this, fans of "9-1-1": if you felt gutted at the end of this episode, just know that Minear wanted you to feel even worse. I suppose you can take solace in the knowledge that they never toyed with a coffin-drop sendoff to Nash, but maybe keep your guard up. His funeral is expected to be the focal point of the next episode.