As someone who grew up with a Tumblr blog dedicated to —one half of perhaps modern TV’s most notorious queerbait-y ship.
Throughout the latter half of Supernatural, Castiel fought demons alongside the Winchester brothers, becoming a close companion and fan-favorite character. A large part of that popularity was due to the character’s queer undertones, which many fans particularly saw in his relationship with Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles). Fans of the show, which ended in November 2020, still cheer on a romance between the two: As of May 2024, the Archive of Our Own tag dedicated to Castiel and Dean has amassed a whopping 106,794 works, in which they tend to hunt demons together, save each other’s lives, and turn unrequited love to full on requited love.
The show played into this pairing without confirming it for much of its run, and the level of queerbaiting became infamous. But in the show’s 15th and final season—seven of which featured Castiel—Castiel confessed his love for Dean in one of its last episodes … before being sucked into a black orb and dying. While Supernatural is about demon hunters, having a queer-coded character killed off immediately after confessing his love to his best friend wasn’t received well by many fans.
To Michela, a fan of the show, Castiel’s coming out ultimately left a bad taste in her mouth. “Do I feel great on a rewatch of Supernatural knowing that the gay subtext is textual and the longing stares are in fact because Cas and Dean were in love? Yes. Do I think that any of that now gets to count as queer representation? No, not really.” (Collins, however, didn’t agree with this popular assessment.)
There’s a difference, though, between what Supernatural attempted to do, what Succession did, and what 9-1-1 is currently doing. The procedural drama has reinvented what it means to not only allow characters to be queer, but how writers, showrunners, and actors have engaged in fandom spaces as well. Here, it feels like they’re not only listening to their audience, but also allowing Buck the grace of realizing his queerness in a timely manner. While Buck’s attraction to women has been on full display in the past, now he finally gets to explore this other side of his sexuality.
Unlike Supernatural’s Castiel, “Buck is still alive,” says Zoë. “It’s one thing to say a character is queer, but to show them openly and explicitly being queer, whether that’s in a relationship or actively seeking to explore their sexuality, is a whole other thing.”
And it’s a great thing, at that: Since his coming out, we’ve seen Buck explore not only his relationship with Tommy, but also his identity as a bisexual man. Following his kiss with Tommy, the season’s sixth episode, “There Goes The Groom,” sees Buck accidentally coming out to the rest of the team, with his face covered in ash after giving his partner—who just returned from a shift—a passionate kiss. Many of the looks on the team’s faces suggest that they’re not surprised, which is how the fans felt as well.
Of course, though, there are fans who hope Buck can recontextualize his relationship with one man in particular, and that’s Eddie. While actor Ryan Guzman himself has hinted at the two “get[ting] closer than ever” this season, there’s still a sense of trepidation in the fandom, as well as tension between fans who enjoy Buck’s relationship with Tommy and those who strictly want a Buddie romance.
Zoë, however, isn’t rushing things. “The fun is in the chase,” she tells us. “Some fans want Buck and Eddie together as soon as possible, and I don’t think that’s realistic. I’d like to see [Buck] explore that side of his sexuality more before he settles down with Eddie. Plus, Eddie isn’t even out yet.” Despite this, with Buck finally being queer, there will undeniably be many scenes to come that will be the spark that lights a thousand new fanworks.
9-1-1 is in a strange position as a network show, and, as Miya states, we need to remember that the series’ whopping 5 million-ish current viewers aren’t all members of its online fandom. “As much as I want Buddie [to be canon], they still have to sell that relationship to the general audience who currently have only seen [the two] as friends.” Now, instead of a will-they-won’t-they situation involving the creators acknowledging Buck’s queer coding, the fans are stuck in limbo with regards to his relationship with his best friend.
Despite this, whether or not the two end up in a relationship in this season or the many to come, there’s no doubt that Buck’s coming out marks a milestone on network television. While it took him longer than some fans wanted, that Buck came out in the series’ seventh season is better than him never coming out at all—just like many other characters before him.
