9-1-1 Star Elijah M. Cooper Reflects on Harry’s Firefighter Journey – INTERVIEW

Elijah M. Cooper breaks down Harry Grant’s big step forward in 9-1-1 Season 9, Episode 9, “Fighting Back.”

SPOILER WARNING*

For 9-1-1’s ninth season, Elijah M. Cooper was promoted to series regular status, allowing fans to see more of Harry Grant’s individual character growth. The procedural drama explores the high-pressure experiences of police officers, firefighters, and dispatchers, drawing from the real lives of first responders and the situations that they face regularly. I spoke with the actor about how Harry overcomes his training challenges, getting to join the 118, and more.

The Symbolism of Harry’s Academy Firefighting Exam

In terms of Harry’s training, why do you think climbing a ladder was kind of the perfect drill for him to have a problem with, for him to struggle with? I feel like there’s some great symbolism there.

Cooper: I do think the symbolism is absolutely fantastic. I think that is a perfect mirror of his journey throughout this show. He’s been slowly working his way into adulthood, figuring himself out, and moving along that ladder, and I feel like this is a moment where Harry falls, and Harry is encountered with this, like, are you going to get back up, situation. We see it’s not always through your own will, but through the people that you have around you to help build you up and help you come back stronger. So I think, yeah, that was very symbolic. That was a great question.

I think that even Harry coming back and Harry having to face this challenge of moving back to somewhere scary and initially backing out, but through his mom finally being like, “Okay, it’s actually time to get back out there. It’s time to do it, it’s time to get back in the field.” And as she said, you cannot carry fear into whatever you’re doing. Sometimes you just got to go up the ladder, and you just got to take it step by step. So, yeah, I think that it’s perfect symbolism for Harry, and I think that it’s also going to push him forward in the story, and it changes your mentality as well.

A Necessary Wake-up Call

I love how you phrased it as he gets back up because we see May explaining Athena’s fears to him, and that leads to Harry getting inside his own head. However, he doesn’t actually realize it at first because he wants to go back immediately. He only realizes once he’s back, when he’s looking up at the ladder and remembering Bobby’s funeral. That’s what it clicks for him. Why do you think that was necessary for him to face before becoming a firefighter, and why do you think it hit him in that moment rather than him delaying going back and processing it at home?

Cooper: I mean, I think with me being young as well, there’s always this feeling of invincibility and also this drive inside of you, and it’s great to have that, but I think at the same time, it can put you into dangerous situations. And having a person like May for Harry be able to explain that to him and say, like, “Hey, here’s the rationale behind this. Here’s the thought process, and here’s why.”

I think that probably kind of was in the back of his head and everything, but when he finally came to it, when he finally was in the moment, and he was like, ‘Wow, it’s right in front of me, there’s that ladder again,’ now it becomes real. Now, we’re not just talking about some concept. No, I’m actually about to get up here and do this, and I think, honestly, it’s tough that he had to go through that, but that’s an important moment.

He needed that moment to humble him, bring him back down to earth, and realize truly the importance of all of this and the serious nature of it. I mean, even we go kind of call back to when he put Bobby’s turnouts on for Halloween, like Athena said, “You’re not taking this seriously enough, clearly,” right? I feel like this was another one of those wake-up calls, like, hey, you got to get serious about this, you got to understand the danger, and yet, even when you understand the danger, understand that you have to take the right mentality, the right approach into this.

Harry and Buck’s Brotherly Bond

You know I have to mention Harry going to Buck’s to hide out. I just love that the show is still incorporating that, and that their relationship is growing, even with all of the craziness going on in everyone’s lives. What can you tease about how their dynamic is going to change now that Harry is an official member of the 118? It’s a very different situation now.

Cooper: Yeah, I mean, first of all, I’m loving Buck and Harry’s whole relationship. It’s great, and even in real life, Oliver is just an awesome guy. He really is. I think now it goes from coach, mentor to still coach, mentor, but also now teammate, right? Now, we are all in it together. The stakes are now a lot higher, and now it’s like, how do we work together? How do we build a synergy together? How do we not just take the stance of like, hey, you’re the apprentice, and I’m going to show you how to do these specific things, but now, Harry, how do we get serious? How do we work through challenges, situations that when we show up to the call, we don’t really know what’s going on?

We got to use all these critical thinking skills. We got to use sometimes the strength that was built through our training back there. Now it’s time to apply all of these things. I think that shifts the dynamic and the relationship that they have. Now it’s about working together, not just as I said, him being coached. So, I think it definitely changes how they relate to each other and how they see each other, and I think it strengthens their bond even further, and I’m excited for people to see that.

Finding The Right Motivation

Athena and Harry have a really beautiful and important heart-to-heart about being a first responder. It was one of my favorite scenes of the episode. Why do you think that conversation was enough to give him the strength he needed to continue down that path, and do you think it changed his view of the job at all?

Cooper: Yeah, I think it most certainly changed his view. I think he needed someone to show love to him in that moment, but also show him a strong type of love where it’s like, hey, I know that you’re afraid of this, but you’re going to have to face your fears, and I think it’s something that he knew, right? He knew that this was going to happen at some point; he was going to encounter this situation again, and that literally the entire job of being a first responder is about encountering these situations. But also, having someone who has done this job for a long time, has put themselves in the line of danger, and is also his mom, who he knows is the main person in the world that is going to love him and make sure that he’s safe and taken care of.

I think having those two things together brings him assurance, and it also brings him a feeling of understanding that this job is not all about just going and doing fun, heroic things. It’s about the daily approach. It’s about how you position yourself towards the job you’re doing, and as Athena said to Harry, every day, where he would be like, “Hey, I want you to quit,” she would have to turn all of that off, all of that mom energy and everything and be like, ‘No, I’m going in here to be a police officer and my main job is to save people’s lives.’ So I think that conversation, and as we saw his response to the conversation, has completely kind of made him have a 180 and made him appreciate the job even more.

The 118’s Newest Probie

How did it feel for you to film that ceremony and have everyone support Harry in that way? It’s one thing when you get to do a group scene because I’m sure those are very fun, but when all of them are specifically showing up for Harry and his accomplishment, what did that mean to you personally?

Cooper: What’s so crazy about this job is we are all just so tight-knit, and yes, we’re experiencing all of this job as a show, and we have a script and everything, but we’ve also been experiencing all of this together. And so, now everybody in the crowd was like, ‘Oh my goodness, this is finally the moment,’ and it felt real, right? I was trying to keep it together and not break as I was walking down the aisle. I was like, “Guys, you’re cheering too loud, you’re getting into my head,” like the whole thing, it’s wild to me that I am now joining the 118. I think it’s wild to them, and it’s fun as well, and in that moment where we all hug up, it’s like, alright, this is now the crew, let’s get into it.

A Missing Piece

Now that Harry has officially joined the 118, what do you think he would have said to Bobby if he had the chance to talk to him [after the ceremony], or how do you think Bobby would have welcomed him?

Cooper: Wow. I think the circumstance changes Harry’s approach. I think, at this point, Harry is joining the 118, knowing that Bobby is not there, and there is a bittersweet feeling. I think for Harry, and like a personal moment in this context, it’s more of like, “I did it. I’m here, and I’m going do you proud.” But there’s a certain kind of emotion behind that where it’s like, I know you’re not here, and because of that, I had that fire to do that. I think if Bobby was there in real life, I think it would be the same type of thing, where it’s like, “I’m here, I did it, I’m going do you proud,” but now it’s like, I’m going to do it with you seeing it, and I’m going to have you here in my journey and we’re going to work through this together.

So yeah, I think it’s all about the perspective of the moment, and that’s probably something that I could say Harry has thought through in his mind, too, of like, what would this have been like if Bobby was here? But I think this is just the keyword in the series, remembrance. This is where Harry now has to step up and say, every single day when I walk into the firehouse, I have something on my mind, I have you on my mind, and I’m going to do you proud.

New episodes of 9-1-1 air Thursdays at 8 PM EST on ABC.

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