They’ve dealt with earthquakes, a tsunami, cruise ship catastrophes, and even escaped zoo animals. But in the season 8 premiere, the firefighters of 9-1-1 will face something they’ve never seen before: 22 million killer bees released upon Los Angeles.
“We just wanted to generate some buzz,” 9-1-1 co-creator and showrunner Tim Minear jokes to Entertainment Weekly of the decision for the season-opening disaster on his ABC first responder drama.
In a first-look preview clip exclusive to EW (above), boxes carrying the bees are seen tipping over in a truck accident and 911 call center dispatcher Josh (Bryan Safi) tells Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) that there are enough of the insects on the loose to kill 44 thousand people. (A previously released season 8 teaser stated that “the average person cannot survive 500 bee stings.”)
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/9-1-1-090824-3-66dd91f3776b4dea835495652d96f408.jpg)
In the clip, set to Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight,” a newly mustached Eddie (Ryan Guzman) asks his fellow 118 firehouse firefighters Buck (Oliver Stark), Chimney (Kenneth Choi), and Hen (Aisha Hinds) if they think the bees will “just fly away.” “Not Likely,” Hen replies.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/9-1-1-090824-1-9bb6c878bfea4fd78decce2ef9901d9e.jpg)
“It’s a bee-nado,” Buck surmises as the swarm swirls and attacks.
