‘9-1-1’: Oliver Stark Previews Season 7 Premiere’s ‘Ambitious’ Cruise Ship Disaster (Exclusive)

9-1-1, and in true 9-1-1 fashion, the series is kicking off with a major opener. Each season of the first responder drama has started with a big emergency, whether that’s an earthquake, tsunami, or mudslide. Despite moving to a new network, the series is still going big with the Season 7 premiere that will see a cruise ship disaster and Bobby and Athena right in the middle of it.

Star Oliver Stark exclusively told PopCulture.com that while it’s been “difficult” to match Season 3’s tsunami premiere, Season 7 might finally be the one to top it. “I do feel confident in saying that this year, it has gone bigger; it has gone more extreme,” Stark explained. “These opening episodes have stretched across three months of filming because so much work is going into them, so I’m really excited to see the fan reactions, just how ambitious these episodes are. I honestly don’t believe we’ve ever done anything of this scale, and I hope everybody is ready for that tidal wave of excitement.”

Even with the excitement, the episodes are still going to be as nerve-wracking as ever. Bobby and Athena will find themselves trapped on the cruise ship while on their long-awaited honeymoon, and it will hit close to home for the 118. However, it’s not the first time one of their own has been at the forefront of an emergency, and it’s actually what Stark loves the most.

“I think my favorite emergencies on the show are always the ones that do involve one of our own just because it ups the stakes, both as an audience member watching it, but then also for the characters in those predicaments and for the characters who are trying to make the rescue,” Stark shared. “I think the 118 and Buck included in there, we’ve seen over the years, they’ll always go above and beyond to save strangers. And then I think that goes even one step further when it is one of their own in danger. You can be sure that Buck, Hen, Eddie, and Chimney will be doing whatever they can to rescue their loved ones.”

It’s not a major 9-1-1 episode unless a main character or two are involved in a major emergency, and the series is going big this time around. Even before the cruise ship disaster, the 118 will be taking on some smaller emergencies as Bathena enjoys their honeymoon, so the series will be building up to it, which will make it even worse. It’s going to be an intense and action-packed opener to the season, and it all begins this Thursday, Mar. 14 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. As Stark says, the premiere is “not everything that we’re expecting it to be in the cruise ship, that it may lead us down one road and then very quickly take us off in a different direction, so I’ll just say stay tuned, and I hope you feel our excitement to be continuing making this show.”