9-1-1’s Ryan Guzman on Eddie’s Underwear Dance, Finding Joy, More

Ryan Guzman says his character, Eddie Diaz, is searching for “happiness” in season 8 of 9-1-1 – and dancing in her underwear is just the beginning.

“He’s stepping out of his comfort zone, allowing himself to feel uncomfortable and uncomfortable and put himself in a position that maybe he didn’t want to be in before and just look at a new life, to be honest,” Guzman, 37, , was told exclusively Us Weekly. “I mean, I think it’s a mental reset before anything physical or even natural happens around him.”

The Thursday, November 7, episode of 9-1-1, titled “Confessions” saw Eddie, admitting his guilt for harming son Christopher (Gavin McHugh) and finally made him come in? and his grandparents in Texas. But a conversation or two with a priest (Gavin Stenhouse) – and an assignment to recite a few Our Fathers – later, Eddie finds himself searching for a life beyond caring for others.

Guzman told us that viewers can expect to see Eddie lean into “childlike behavior” in the upcoming episodes of season 8, which will be filled with “more cuteness” and “more fun” for the character than they do. I have seen it before. However, that does not mean that everything will go smoothly.

“He’s not going to look good or perfect,” Guzman explained. “I think it kind of dispels that idea of ​​what happened from season 1 or season 2. So I had a lot of fun with Eddie in the next few episodes.”

Guzman emphasized that many of Eddie’s journeys revolved around caring for others – personally and professionally – which ultimately took a toll on him over the years.

“He goes from being in the Army and taking care of his system, and actually being a doctor, suturing people to 118 and taking care of other people or taking care of his ex-wife. [Shannon]and passed away again now [he has his] a son to take care of — It’s always about someone else,” he explained. “It’s always about responsibilities, and I know that from a personal perspective, too many responsibilities can be heavy on the soul, and it kills that childlike behavior, that thought.”

“Balance,” said Guzman, is what Eddie looks forward to. “It opened up more space for him to look inward and just be, like, ‘Okay, let’s just take this burden, this weight of the world, off my shoulders and let myself just live,'” he added.

Where that story will take Eddie — and what it means to “really live” — remains to be seen, but the character began his journey by letting go of something some fans may have missed: his mustache.

“[Our showrunner], Tim [Minear], and I had a conversation about what the mustache was and how we were going to make Eddie’s character, and he really hid himself and didn’t want to see himself and it was the whole theme,” said Guzman. Us. “So as he was trying to do new things and trying to see himself this season, that mustache reinforced the fact that, ‘No, I have to be punished for what I’ve been through or what I’ve done’ to my son my ex-girlfriend [Marisol] and my ex-wife’s doppelganger.’”

Guzman noted that the guilt of hurting the people around him “held him down” and “squeezed him” – and the “moment of acceptance” came with shaving his facial hair. “He has that moment where he looks in the mirror and just accepts himself,” Guzman added, “That’s good.”

Eddie didn’t just stop at the new face. “Confessions” also sees Eddie channel his inner Tom Cruise in an epic Risky Businessstyle dance – complete with Bob Seger & The SIlver Bullet Band’s “Old Time Rock and Roll,” a sock slide, and, yes, tighty-whiteys. Guzman said he heard about the incident from Minear about “a month and a half” before filming, and that the actress – who rose to fame with her dance moves after 2014’s Step Up All In – wasn’t ready to strip again. press play.

“When they told me that my immediate thought was, ‘Oh, I’m going to have so much fun with this. I haven’t danced on camera for years.’ And then they kept coming to me saying, ‘Are you sure, are you sure you got this? Are you sure you want to do this?’ But I agreed,” he said. “I love the fact that this is an opportunity for Eddie to let loose in so many ways. Like, he’s in his prime showing the world what he’s got and dancing like Tom Cruise.”

Guzman said he and Minear discussed that although Risky Business is clearly an incentive, they do not want it to be “re-shot”. Instead, they wanted Eddie’s skills to express who he is as an actor, not who Guzman is as a dancer.

“I didn’t want to be perfect! That was worrying me,” said Guzman Us laughing. “I was like, ‘Eddie’s not a professional dancer. Eddie is Eddie and he must be showing how happy he is at the moment.’ I think we did it six or seven times, and each time [our director] Chad Lowe would come up to me and say, ‘This is great. I really like this.’ And that will make me improve again.”

The best part of Guzman? There was really no way to mess it up. “There is no wrong answer, and you don’t have to find the right answer,” she said. “So I just did my thing and had fun with it.”

However, there was pressure on other aspects, like making sure everything was—ahem, in good shape? — to keep Guzman free.

“I’m sad [head costume designer] Alayna Bell-Pricehey guys,” said Guzman with a laugh. “I’m sure there are many notes that I can show my thigh and what part of my underwear I can show. Because we made a few changes. We did a lot of stunts, like tying my shirt to my underwear, or one long, long shirt that looked like I was wearing Shaq’s shirt. But luckily we found a good fit.”

As Eddie gets sweeter in “Confessions,” his moment of happiness is interrupted by a knock on the door, which ends up being the recently broken Buck (Oliver Stark) who was recently dumped by her boyfriend Tommy (Lou Ferrigno Jr.) The two aren’t talking to each other yet, but Guzman said Eddie will eventually hear the details of Buck’s breakup and will react differently than he expected.

“I think it’s another time for Eddie’s character to grow, because before Eddie would have taken on the job of trying to save Buck or help Buck,” Guzman explained, noting that right now his character is focused on “living in the moment” more than anything else. “There might be a case in there, some residual case of Eddie being like, ‘Well, I’ve got to be there for my friend. Ah, I still have to do this.’ But I took this character in a different way. I want him to rely more on self-commitment, and with that he is able to find more maturity and more of himself and put himself into that.”

Related: Ryan Guzman Says It Could Be ‘Baby Steps’ for Buck and Eddie Romance

Oliver Stark and Ryan Guzman are well aware that 9-1-1 fans are hoping to see their characters, Buck and Eddie, reunite — and they’ve opened up about whether there’s a chance they’ll fall in love more often. “I’m open to it. You know, obviously there’s stuff there and there’s chemistry between us,” Stark, who said […]

Guzman added that Eddie’s new maturity will be what Buck needs anyway. “I think that in itself gives Buck what he’s asking for,” he said. “He’s not asking for answers, he’s asking for an ear, he’s asking for comfort, he’s asking for space. So it’s not so much Eddie coming to rescue Buck or helping him, just being there as a friend, being there as a brother, finding the right community.”

But will Buck – or anyone – help Eddie on his journey to capture happiness? The answer is a resounding “no” for Guzman, who said Eddie will want to find out who he is for himself.

“This is unity,” he explained. “Sometimes we have to do our own things in our own way and find it for ourselves. No one will be able to live our life for us. So for Eddie, it’s trial and error in this new area of ​​life and finding all the different colors that allow him to release this great pressure on himself and feel bad if he wants to.”

He quickly added: “Not at work, obviously, but in his personal life.”

New episodes of 9-1-1 airs on ABC Thursdays at 8 pm ET.