Reflections on Anirudh Pisharody’s Emotions About Bobby’s Unexpected Death on ‘9-1-1’

The actors from 9-1-1 are just like regular people! They were deeply saddened by the sudden death of Bobby Nash and the unexpected departure of Peter Krause from the show.

Season 8 of the popular ABC series took a shocking turn when showrunner Tim Minear decided to kill off a key character for the first time ever. And it wasn’t just any character – it was the beloved captain of the 118, who was considered the show’s leader and emotional center.

Bobby’s demise in Episode 815, due to a dangerous virus he caught during a super lab crisis, left a void in the series. The last three episodes of the season were dedicated to showing how the main characters coped with his loss. Behind the scenes, the cast also struggled with their own feelings of grief.

“Acting during those scenes — especially at the very end during the funeral and all of that — none of it was really acting,” Anirudh Pisharody, who’s played firefighter Ravi Panikkar since Season 4 of the series, told Decider over Zoom. “Obviously, Peter is not dying. But because he’s been a part of this family for so long, it feels like you’re losing an appendage; a part yourself.”

Following Bobby’s on-screen death, Minear explained his reasoning behind the “100% creative” decision and revealed that weeks after he looped Krause in on the bold storyline, he called each cast member individually to break the news.

“I think we were about to start filming one of the episodes. It was like the first day of shooting for that episode, and we were about to go in for my coverage, and I got a call from Tim,” the 31-year-old actor recalled. “I’m like, ‘OK, cool. Well I’ve definitely got to take this.’ I take it. He drops the news. And I’m just like, ‘Uhhhhh…OK…’ I honestly didn’t even know how to process it. Tim was like, ‘All right, I got to go call some other people.’ And we go in for the take, and the entirety of the time I didn’t know who he had already talked to. I didn’t know what crew members or who else knew. So I was just kind of sitting there with all that knowledge.’”

Like his co-stars, Pisharody’s initial reaction to the news was a mixture of shock, disbelief, and racing thoughts, which admittedly distracted him from the episode he was filming that day.

“They say not to be in your head — especially when you’re shooting something — and that entire day, I was just in my head. Like you said, it is the patriarch, right? It’s dad. He’s dying, for lack a better word. And it’s shock,” the 9-1-1 star explained. “There were so many questions. That was the main thing. ‘How long have they been talking about this? Pete, did you know?’ All of these things. And obviously, most of the questions got answered later on. But the full spectrum of emotions was felt that day.”

After Episode 815 premiered, Angela Bassett — who plays Bobby’s wife Athena in the series — admitted she had no idea that a storyline of this magnitude would be coming in Season 8. She also noted that the script initially led people to believe a different 118 member would meet his demise. “It was really a jaw-dropping moment when I read the script and saw that. Well, initially it was a different character, the whole bio lab,” Bassett told Deadline. “That may have been just a misdirect, but initially it was Ravi, the probie; well, he is not a probie anymore.”

So was Pisharody ever aware of his character’s death in the “Lab Rats” script? And did he think he was the cast member who was leaving the show at any point?

“There was a little bit of that. It was teased a little bit, and then Tim told me, ‘Hey, this is the situation. This is what’s going on,’” Pisharody told Decider. Once the actor learned that the script was intentionally misleading, and that Bobby — not Ravi — was dying in the lab, Pisharody took on the extra task of keeping the Ravi death story alive while simultaneously processing Krause’s departure.

“I was definitely having to keep my cool and my composure. But at the same time, I had to pretend, like, ‘Oh man, it’s gonna be rough!’ Because some people would come up to me and they’d be like, ‘Oh, hey. I’m so sorry you’re leaving the show.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, it’s rough. It’s been a great time,’ just lying through my teeth,” Pisharody explained, noting it was difficult to determine who on set knew what information for a bit. “There was a funny situation where somebody had come up to me and they had already known the truth, but they didn’t know if I knew the truth — that I wasn’t actually dying. So the two of us were going back and forth with this veneer of lies.”

Though the script misdirect required an extra off-camera performance from the 9-1-1 star, Pisharody said he appreciated the extra efforts taken to conceal the truth. “This was a bombshell. And I think you have to hold that information in,” he explained.

Weeks before “Lab Rats” aired, however, Bobby’s death was prematurely spoiled for some fans when the show filmed his funeral procession in public and bystander footage flooded social media. When asked why the show took that risk, Minear told Deadline, “We had our fingers crossed that when we went out and shot the procession, it wouldn’t leak. I think we were just all being incredibly naive; I think I’ve underestimated the interest of the fans out there for this show… I wanted the pageantry, I wanted the production value, I needed that. And so we rolled the dice, and we shot it in public.”

In the hours, days, and weeks after the emotional death episode premiered, 9-1-1‘s cast, crew, and creatives shared touching tributes to Krause and his character on social media. Pisharody posted three black and white photos of himself and his longtime co-star to Instagram along with the caption, “The greatest mentor, and even greater friend, Peter. Bobby Nash, our Cap. Forever.” But that wasn’t the extent of their personal farewell, nor did it fully capture Pisharody’s gratitude for and admiration of Krause.

“My relationship with Peter — like you said, he’s dad. He is literally the guy who lights up a room, the guy you can always talk to. He’s been this wonderful, warm light on this show,” Pisharody shared. “They always talk about how the culture of a show really comes from the top down, from the number ones, the number twos on the call sheet. And Angela and Pete, they both 100% embody that. The level of respect, professionalism, openness, and graciousness that they show — you feel it from EP all the way down to a PA, and that’s really a testament to them.”

Just as Bobby served as a mentor to Ravi and the rest of his 118 teammates, Krause taught Pisharody invaluable lessons since Season 4.

“What I’ve learned from Pete? He’s a masterclass. He’s the king of TV. Just watching him when there’s a scene, when it’s his coverage, the questions that he asks? Where his mind goes? There’s this technical aspect that you wouldn’t even know how to approach unless you’ve been doing it as long as he has. It’s so smart. I’m always like, ‘Man, I didn’t even think of that.’” Pisharody said. “That’s really what I’m going to take with me — that you have to push that on, ask those questions, and further the craft.”

Though Ravi didn’t realize he was saying goodbye to Bobby when they parted ways at the end of “Lab Rats,” Pisharody was thankful that he got to shoot with and say goodbye to Krause during his final day on set. And in true Bobby Nash fashion, as Krause was navigating his own emotions about leaving the show, he was there to comfort his colleagues as they processed the major change.

“There was a lot of crying. A lot of crying in the make-up trailer, a lot of crying on set…When we’re all standing in that line staring at the Nash turnout coat as it’s going away in this firetruck, most of us were containing ourselves, like, ‘Don’t cry. You can’t cry this. It’s just gonna be waterworks,” Pisharody told Decider. “After everything wrapped up, I talked to Peter, and had my own personal words with him. I told him how much he meant to me and all of that. We have these wonderful talks. Sometimes it gets super philosophical, and I love it. I’m gonna miss it. I’m going to miss it a lot.”

Stay tuned for Decider’s full interview with Anirudh Pisharody about his time on 9-1-1, his character Ravi, his hopes for Season 9, and more.

9-1-1 Season 8 is currently streaming on Hulu.