9-1-1’s showrunner has teased the return of characters in season seven of the show, including Ravi Panikkar.
As part of the Television Critics Association winter press tour, showrunner Tim Minear teased to TVLine what fans can expect from the new season of the hit drama, including which characters are set to return.
Anirudh Pisharody has played firefighter Ravi in the show since 2021, leaving at the end of season five before returning towards the end of season six.
Ravi became a fan favourite, with viewers wondering whether he will be seen in season seven, and now Minear has confirmed that the character will “definitely be coming back”.
The showrunner also revealed that the series will be “bringing back faces from even before Ravi”, with future episodes making way for some surprise returning characters.
He said: “We’re bringing back a couple on the cruise ship that you’ll recognise from a previous episode. We like to go back to the fridge and see what the leftovers are and what we can make.”
9-1-1 recently released a first look at the new season, which begins next month, in a dramatic teaser clip. The opening episodes will follow the Los Angeles first responders dealing with a ship engulfed in a fireball in the middle of the ocean.
Minear describes the upcoming cruise disaster as a “big, exciting arc that goes on for about three episodes”, with the dramatic opening to the season serving as a reintroduction for viewers who are completely new to the show.
“We’re not taking for granted that everybody’s going to know who these characters are,” he said. “So I’ve been careful to make sure that it’s in the scenes. I’ve had a great time writing this stuff – and I hate writing.”
The new season of 9-1-1 will be the first to air on ABC, after Fox initially cancelled the series – even though the channel kept hold of spin-off show 9-1-1: Lone Star.
