9-1-1’s Angela Bassett Reacts to “Inconceivable” Character’s Death (2025)

The Black Panther actress also detailed the moment she saw and Peter saw each other for the first after learning the news.

“We just looked at each other,” she said. “You know when your eyes just lock and you don’t know what to say? And you just bear hug each other and then you just shake your head. And bless his heart—he had to comfort all of us. He truly had to comfort all of us while he’s going through his own processing in the moment.”

And indeed, fans, too, are doing their own processing after witnessing Bobby’s heartbreaking death, which saw him and Athena say their final goodbyes through a glass window.

“I’m looking as a character, but I’m looking as Angela,” she explained of filming the scene. “I’m looking as a human being. It was a very rich moment, and all the emotion that needed to be there was there on both our parts take after take. However many takes, it is still fresh and real.”

The Oscar nominee added, “So as hard as it was, [there] was also something very cleansing about it, because we’re human and we connected as characters and we connected as colleagues. It was just a bigger-than-life moment and experience.”

Peter, meanwhile, understands fans who are mourning his character.

“I’ve heard that many fans are upset by this loss and they have a right to be. It is a loss,” he told Variety in a statement published April 17. “That said, it was more than a bold creative choice on a bold show. Bobby Nash was written in sacrifice and he was built for this.”

He also expressed how his character’s passing pays homage to the real-life heroes he and the other actors on the series embody.

“First responders risk their lives on the job so that others can see another day,” the Parenthood alum added. “His story arc honors them. We at 9-1-1 salute all the incredible men and women who do these dangerous jobs and strive to keep us safe.”

For more of TV’s most shocking exits, keep reading.