[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 7 “Hotshots.”]
Bobby (Peter Krause) is never going to escape Brad (Callum Blue), which is just what the Hotshots actor wants on 9-1-1.
The latest episode of the ABC drama sees the two reunited first when an emergency brings the 118 to set, then when it’s up to Bobby to turn the show’s new tech advisor, Gerrard (Brian Thompson), into someone Brad can stand (Spoiler alert: never going to happen). We also see another side of Brad when he yells at a waitress for getting his drink order wrong while out with Bobby, who puts him in his place. Then to the 118 captain’s surprise, the actor shows up at the station to reveal that he’ll be shadowing him.
Below, Blue discusses joining 9-1-1, who Brad really is, working with Krause, and more. (Plus, read what Krause had to say about this episode, Bobby and Athena’s house, and more here.)
Brad could have easily been a one-off or a couple episodes character, but first he inserts himself into the plane emergency, now he’s using his power to try to get Bobby back, then shadow him. What did you know about the character when you first signed on?
Callum Blue: It was a surprise and a shock to me—and I think everybody—that he’s still around for sure. Because when I first auditioned it was for a guest star, which means mostly one episode, and then it just kept going and going and going. I’m a little bit on a parallel with Brad because as soon as I got to that set, and I felt the high vibration of the set and how brilliant the writers were and how beautiful the actors were and everything, I did kind of think in my head, I’m going to manifest some more of this because this feels good. And I’m a pretty good manifester. So it started to happen and I’m very, very happy that it did.
Disney / Carlos Lopez-Calleja
This episode, we see another side of Brad with the waitress. How much of who Brad was there who he really is that we just hadn’t seen before?
It’s such a beautiful question. Let me meditate for one second on that because it really is important, these questions, because the writers and the creators have done such a spectacular job at bringing a character that could have just been surface level to life in a way that blows me away. They’re trying to kind of explain to the world—we all know these characters who are these cartoonish, over the top, egotistical, angry, whatever you want to call it, but at the core of them is something very broken and very traumatized, and that’s what I’ve tried to bring to this character.
So your question is how much of that is the real Brad? I don’t think Brad even knows what is real at all. I think for Brad, everything is an act. Everything is a performance, and like all of us, I think it’s the human journey, he is searching for that something that is real and authentic and feels like he is worthy in the world. And that’s what we’re exploring. So on the surface, it’s this kind of clownish character, funny and big and brash. But what the writers have done, which I’m so full of appreciation for, is they’ve explored the inner world of him as well. And that’s what we get to see in the next couple of episodes.
Did Bobby’s words really get through to Brad or is he just saying what he thinks Bobby wants to hear because he’s putting himself into his world at the 118 now?
It’s a great question and I think that the fun of this character is that you are never quite sure what the act is because he is an actor, by the way, like we all are. So what’s his agenda? What does he want? How does he want to affect the rest of the cast around him? And so you’re never quite sure what’s real and what isn’t with him.
It can be both, that Bobby’s words got through him, but he may not care enough to really change completely and he knows this is who he has to be around Bobby.
That’s exactly right. And I think what it comes down to, the core of it, is that Brad sees in Bobby an authenticity, a real hero, not just playing a hero. See, these things go deep. You can go as deep as you want with these characters. Brad sees that in Bobby and yearns for it, can’t quite reach it, so causes havoc and chaos around him to get it in an inauthentic way. So he’s almost like the shadow side of Bobby. Bobby to me is that character like the divine masculine who is the protector, the savior, the calm one, the one that makes you feel safe. And Brad is the exact opposite. He’s just all over the place. So it’s a really good mirror to Bobby in this alternate universe where he’s the star of Hotshots. So the fact that they’re playing with those two kind of archetypes is just genius to me, and it works so well.
What else is it about Bobby that Brad likes so much? Every time he sees him on Hotshots in this episode, he is so happy to see him.
For me, where I’m coming from is a place of the father wound, which means that Brad at some point was probably abandoned by his father. And that’s definitely something that I can relate to from my life, so I’m drawing upon that. It’s so fun to play with and make fun of those traumas that you experience yourself. It’s a sort of therapy for yourself. So when Brad sees Bobby, he sees an opportunity to feel safe in the world. He sees an opportunity to be led, he sees an opportunity to be disciplined in a way that he has never been before. And when you’ve not had a father—and by the way, again from personal experience—to guide you in that way, and then you go to Hollywood and become an actor and you have free rein to be a dickhead, then there’s trouble abound. So when you see or kind of experience something in the world like Bobby, who is there to stabilize you and anchor you, you hold onto it and latch onto it. What Brad hasn’t realized yet is that nothing on the outside world, including Bobby, works; you have to go inward and get that father within you for you to feel safe and secure in the world.
Disney / Carlos Lopez-Calleja
Also, Bobby is normal. Brad doesn’t have that kind of person in his life.
Exactly. Brad is surrounded by sycophants and yes men and people who actually perpetrate his bad behavior. And then Bobby comes in and shows him some kind of discipline, and in one way, Brad doesn’t like it, so he acts out even more. But inside, that’s what Brad really craves. And more than anything, I think that for me to fall in love with the character, I have to see the good in them. Although Brad is wobbly and causes chaos and havoc, at the core of him, he looks at Bobby and he can see a real hero and he can see a real divine masculine. And Brad inside is searching and yearning for that for himself. So I think that’s another reason he’s kind of clinging onto Bobby so much because we as humans kind of go around in the world and we look at other people and we go, oh, I want a bit of that, and we kind of imprint and that’s why we’re all one thing. And so Brad has latched onto Bobby in a really unhealthy way, but at the core of it, there is this authentic need to kind of be a better person and he sees that in Bobby.
Speaking of chaos, now we have Brad shadowing Bobby and I just imagine that’s going to bring chaos to the 118. What can you preview? He’s going to be getting to know the rest of the members of the 118 after getting a bit with Buck (Oliver Stark) earlier.
[Laughs] Well, first of all, being introduced to the whole team, I was so nervous that day! Oh my goodness. When I turn up at the fire station, me as an actor, oh my goodness, I was so nervous because I admire these people, I respect these people. I think they’re brilliant actors, brilliant people. They are the highest vibrational people that I’ve been around for a long time. And I was like, what? I’ve got to say all these words in front of these people, and I haven’t been in the acting business for the last seven years, so this is brand new to me again because I was so scared. So I had to find that kind of confidence that Brad has where he just brashly walks in and says, here’s how it goes.
And so that was really challenging for me. I was not feeling like that inside as an actor, but I dug deep and Brad just walks into a place and owns a place. And so that’s how I just walked into it and told everybody what to do and took over. Brad is used to being number one on the call sheet. Brad is used to being the star, and that’s where the chaos ensues because when you’ve got somebody with an ego that big who wants to be the star, and it’s all about him trying to be a hero saving people, that is a bit of a conundrum, to say the least. So that’s what they’re playing with and it’s so much fun.
Talk about working with Peter this season so far and especially with that scene in the restaurant, because that was a very different side of that dynamic.
Yeah. Well, first of all, on a personal level, I’ve been a fan of Peter’s for years. I was in a show on Showtime called Dead Like Me while he was on a show called Six Feet Under on HBO at the same time. Whenever I would be doing press conferences for Dead Like Me, they would ask me about Six Feet Under because they were both about death. So they would compare them even though they were pretty different shows. And I would spend more time talking about Six Feet Under and Peter, I was such a fan of the show, that the bosses at Showtime were not very happy with me. So I was so happy to work with him. I think he’s such a brilliant actor, and when I met him, we clicked straight away and he’s the most giving, high vibrational, and calming person. And so he allowed the space for me to just go for it and have the confidence to just try anything. And he was so supportive. In fact, the whole cast was.
But yeah, it’s definitely a different dynamic in the restaurant scene. And I love that because it’s kind of a power play and Brad knows exactly what he’s doing and Brad knows what he wants and he’s going to get what he wants.
I just have to say, by the way, I love Dead Like Me.
Oh, thank you so much. Wasn’t that a fun show?
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So fun. I wish there was more.
I know, me too. Me too. Yeah, that was one of my favorite experiences. Again, such a high-vibrational cast, and the writers were just on top of their game. When you are involved in a show like Dead Like Me or 9-1-1 where everything is just fitting into place and happening on a higher vibration, it’s a whirlwind and it’s so much fun.
So over on Hotshots, they have that new tech adviser in Gerrard. Is there anything about Gerrard that Brad likes?
[Laughs] No, not at all. I think the only thing he likes is that he gets him coffee, and I think he makes the coffee good. Because I think that Brad is smart enough to look at people and realize who’s a phony and who’s a real hero. And he looks at Bobby and he knows that’s a real hero and he’s the divine masculine. Brad looks at Gerrard and sees straight through his act of being the big boss and being a bully because he’s like that himself. So he’s going to out-bully the bully.
Are there any characters other than Bobby that Brad is going to have significant scenes with going forward?
Yeah, I don’t want to give too much away, but there is a really beautiful, poignant scene with Eddie [Ryan Guzman] coming up. And when I read that, I was very surprised and very happy, and I think the fans are going to love that one.
Anything else you can tease about that? Maybe the tone?
I love the whole cast. I just think they do such a brilliant job, and focusing in on Ryan and Eddie, what he does is he brings this kind of blue-collar, regular American guy to light. And I think that that character is a stark contrast to Brad, who is this over-the-top, ridiculous British actor. So they are different on each end of the spectrum, but in that scene, they find something that they have in common that they find relatable. And it’s a really beautiful scene where two very different characters come together and share a core wound and it’s really beautiful.
But Bobby is still Brad’s favorite, right?
[Laughs] Yeah, for sure. But I think it’s going to be Bradby forever. Because Bobby represents in the show the leader, and I think that in his heart, Brad knows that he wants to be that and he can’t quite get there—it’s all show with Brad, but with Bobby, it’s the authentic thing—Bobby is always going to be Brad’s favorite.
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