#us weekly

UW: Everyone was paired up in the finale, but Eddie’s off dying alone. Was there a part of you that wished Eddie wasn’t so isolated?

RG: Yeah. And it’s just my personal feelings that I’m explaining now, but it’s happened so many times in so many different seasons where I feel Eddie’s been pushed to the side a little bit and had his own thing. And it would have been lovely to be a part of the crew. Like in season 8, to be a part of the whole Bobby passing. I feel like Eddie’s always been on his own little tangent for whatever reason. I don’t write the show, so maybe [our showrunner] Tim [Minear] has something in mind that I just don’t know about. … But I think the fans are starting to speak up about it more lately.

UW: Another big season 9 moment for Eddie, that was wrapped up in the finale, was the migrant story line. You’ve said you pushed to be more involved in that arc. Did advocating for more Eddie in that plot change the way you see your influence on the show?

RG: You know, what I represent is such a unique version of what it is to be Mexican American. And I’m not the stereotypical version. I’ve said this previously, like, I’m white-passing in a lot of areas. So over the course of my career, I’ve seen how my representation, my own culture, be tied in and thread it a little bit more. And it feels now that I mean a lot more than what I once did to the culture, which feels like a lot of weight, to be honest sometimes, but I’m still grasping at the idea of, like, what do I do with this? And to look now at what’s happening in America, it’s crazy. I just see so many harmful things happening in front of us, so that when I get an opportunity now, within my show, to speak up a little bit and showcase my culture in a better light, I would love to be a part of that. And it was just kind of odd to me that [in the 9-1-1 story line] the character wasn’t a little bit more a part of it. So I’m just grateful that Tim was open to having that conversation. And once we kind of dove into that, then we [realized we] got some things that we wanted to say with this, not necessarily out loud, but within action. … Now we’re really facing the truth of the reality we’re in. You can’t stop it. It seems like there’s a totalitarian kind of, like, vibe to it. It’s just all or nothing and you’re helpless. So to showcase that again, grateful for Tim.

UW: You’ve previously teased that Eddie was getting a new love interest in season 9, but it didn’t pan out. In hindsight, do you think it was better that Eddie focused on himself instead of another relationship?

RG: 100 percent. I’m glad that it didn’t pan out this year. Everything happened for a reason, and [you see] Eddie by himself, not worried about a love interest. I go back to the [9-1-1 Nashville] crossover. You see him excited to go out, when in the previous part of the season, he was kind of timid and Buck and Ravi are trying to get him out of his shell, but he’s still kind of like, “I don’t know.” Flash forward to the crossover, and now you’re seeing this new version of him being like, “Let’s have fun, man!” You’re seeing him just live in his skin a little easier. I love that for Eddie. And I don’t think if we had a love interest this season, he would have found that, and he more than likely would have fallen back on old habits.

UW: Is season 10 going to be the right time?

RG: Next season, I think if it were to happen, and I think Tim is of the same mind, it has to happen in a manner where it’s not forced, and we just don’t introduce a character out of nowhere. It has to be nice and easy.

UW: Back to the finale, Buck is now 4-year-old Theo’s new guardian. How do you think this might shift the balance between Buck and Eddie? Will they get even closer?

RG: I think they’re already close, to be honest — I don’t know how much closer you can get! That being said, I think it’s going to be so fun to watch the dynamic now between Theo and Buck, because it’s chaos meets chaos. He’s getting a version of himself that he has to deal with. Who knows what that brings out of Buck, too. If I were writing the show, it would be Eddie stepping away a little bit, just to see what would happen, and then the moment when Buck needs him, he’d be there. It’s really nice to flip the roles a little bit, because I think Eddie was relying on Buck in so many ways over the last, you know, eight seasons when it came to Christopher.

UW: Eddie has accused Buck of being self-centered more than once in their friendship. Will Eddie see Buck differently now that he is going to understand the weight of raising a child?

RG: Great question. I feel that being a parent changes you inherently, and to be a good parent is just something that you cannot fathom prior to [doing it]. I’ve actually had this conversation with friends of mine who aren’t parents. They have so much time to give themselves, whether that’s [going to] the gym or reading books to help them grow. [With kids], you have to think about somebody else before you think about yourself. It forces you to be less selfish and more selfless. And Buck has always been selfless when it comes to the 118 and in so many areas. Now it’s going to test him in plenty of ways. So what that unfolds for him is going to be something great, and I feel the audience will love the journey from season 1, where he was just sleeping around with a bunch of people, to now where he is a father having to be selfless. It’s going to be great for his character.

UW: Do you think Buck needs Eddie more than Eddie needs Buck?

RG: I think they lean on each other relatively the same. Buck has been there so many times for Eddie — it was showcased in the last episode of season 9. He’s the first one who says, “Where’s Eddie?” That’s the relationship they have. They care about each other, and I feel there are just different seasons in their lives that they’ve been going through, that showcase the variations of their relationship and how that’s evolved.

UW: What do you think Eddie’s relationship with Theo will be, even without Buck, especially now that Christopher is getting older?

RG: Well, there are two ways you can go about this, right? One, Eddie becomes more of an empty nester and he wants to relive his past, the time that he didn’t get with Christopher. Or, Eddie is now in this moment of recognizing he is going to have more time for himself, and he’s going to be like, “That’s your kid. You got to handle your kid!” And [Theo] is a ball of energy. So I would say it’s more like how grandparents handle their grandchildren. Like, they get the best versions of them, and then as soon as they start acting up it’s like, “OK, you can have your kid back.”

UW: Let’s talk about the Buddie road trip episode. At the diner, everyone around Buck and Eddie seemed to instantly assume that they were together, but Eddie remained oblivious. That’s happened more than once on the show. Is there a part of Eddie that consciously chooses not to look too closely at his dynamic with Buck to keep from complicating things?

RG: No, I feel like when something is that close to you, you kind of overlook it. You don’t read into anything because what other people see outside in their own perspective and much different than what Eddie is connected to with Buck. With Eddie and Buck’s relationship, Eddie [has so] many moments of being lost and having no clue. You know, he was raised to be the super soldier type, a very masculine individual that isn’t really in touch with his feelings. And through his friend, he’s been allowed to showcase a lot of different sides of himself that he couldn’t [before]. So I think in this moment, he’s just so grateful that he has a friend. Whatever everybody else is seeing, I think Eddie, at this point in time, is just like, “I don’t get it. I don’t even see it.”

UW: Hypothetically, if Buck directly asked Eddie, “What am I to you?” Do you think that Eddie could answer that honestly?

RG: I think he could answer that honestly, because he’s always come from an authentic place, and I don’t see why Eddie couldn’t say that. He deeply cares about Buck, and he wants only the best for him, and there is a sense of love for him.

UW: Looking ahead at season 10, what excites you more: exploring Eddie as an individual outside of fatherhood with potentially new characters, or continuing to deepen the relationships that already define him?

RG: I think new is always better. So, exploring a little bit more, allowing Eddie to find new elements of himself. Seeing other characters maybe pull something different out of Eddie, which would be great, and actually stepping out of the father role and more into just Eddie as a human being would be really nice. Because I’m sure there’s plenty of flaws we can uncover in that — and some fun, humorous moments.

UW: Season 9 really allowed Eddie to reconnect — with his faith, but also with his heritage. Is he finally discovering his authentic self outside of just his role as a dad?

RG: Absolutely. He’s connected with his faith, with the losses of Isabella and Bobby as well. Those are two key figures in his life. So, understanding now that he has a more sense of stability within himself, he’s able to take different directions and moves and curate a healthier way of living. We shall see what that brings for him. But I do believe that the authenticity is at an all-time high for Eddie.

UW: You’ve been playing this character for so long, it’s probably nice to do something fresh and be surprised by the story line.

RG: Absolutely. Even with the [9-1-1 Nashville] crossover, it was just an opportunity, again, to showcase Eddie’s fun nature. He’s been serious, and he’s gone through so many dramatic moments that it’s nice Eddie does have that levity to him now, and he’s able to just express himself rather than be so caught up and tense.

UW: Outside of the migrant story line, is there anything else that you’ve pushed for on the show that fans would be surprised to hear about?

RG: Tim is one of the better showrunners that I’ve ever worked for, if not the best, because he’s just so open to collaboration and understanding. But there are little things throughout the seasons [where] I would say, “I think this is a little less truthful to the character. You mind switching these words around or this line around?” And he’d be open to that. There was a story line that eventually fizzled out toward season 8, but the passing of Bobby became, of course, such a big thing that it wouldn’t have made sense now. But there was something with my character and Angela [Bassett’s character, Athena], and a possible change in careers.

UW: Can you tease any more of that?

RG: Well, it’s dead and gone now. I don’t think it’ll ever happen, but there was an opportunity where Eddie was offered a job as a police officer, something that he was maybe seriously considering. There was a scene we shot. He fully considered it. I think the idea was to maybe to coexist with Angela’s character.

UW: What else do you want for your character that you haven’t gotten to do yet?

RG: One specific thing, I think, is mental health. I would love for Eddie to dip back into his bag when it comes to the traumatic side of war and see how he can connect with other veterans. … To showcase there are so many people who come from war that need our help and just get tossed aside after they’re done. And it’s just crazy, because they fought for our country. I would love for Eddie to dip into that bag. There are so many things that unravel. It’s like a thread that you pull in the whole thing and weave.

UW: Digging into men’s mental health is something TV needs to do more.

RG: It’s a newer topic in the last 10 years. I was definitely raised that emotions and [mental health] came second to just seeing the job done, and what that does is just shuts off a level of being coherent to understanding your emotions, let alone communicating them. You’re almost seen as a weaker individual, or as someone representing something that you’re not, and I would like to dismantle that within our show. I’ve found such peace and prosperity in my own mental and spiritual issues because of the men that I’ve leaned on. So if we can build on that, I think we can build a level of strong men in the world, and we kind of dismantle the machismo, the toxic masculinity that everybody’s talking about.